The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a loan of up to £31.2m (RON 182.8m) to support development of NewCold Romania’s first high-automation cold storage warehouse.
EBRD will lend in parallel with Banca Comercială Română (BCR), which will also provide a loan of the same amount.
The financing will support development of an automated warehouse and an adjacent manual warehouse in Bucharest, EBRD said.
This comprises the first two phases of a wider project, which will receive up to RON 695.6m overall from the two banks, it added.
EBRD director of real estate, Vlaho Kojakovic, stated: “This investment brings a new generation of automated, energy efficient logistics infrastructure to Romania.
“By supporting NewCold’s expansion, we are helping the introduction of cutting-edge technology that sharply reduces energy use and emissions, strengthens supply chain resilience, and raises industry standards.”
According to EBRD, the new Bucharest warehouse is expected to cut energy intensity by around half compared with conventional cold storages of similar size.
Additionally the project’s energy saving automation and optimisation systems will “contribute to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, supporting Romania’s climate and energy goals”.
Refrigerated food logistics provider NewCold currently operates 26 automated and energy-efficient warehouses across three continents, with a combined capacity of more than 2 million pallet positions.
The company is currently building a new 100,000 pallet-capacity warehouse in Syndey, Australia, which is expected to come online later this year.
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