Barry Callebaut to open €100 million “energy-neutral” Belgian global distribution center

05 Jul 2019 --- Cocoa and chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut will open a new 60,000+ m² global distribution center (GDC) in the third quarter of 2021. The new logistics hub will be Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREAAM) Outstanding certified and fully energy-neutral. Its location in Lokeren, Belgium, will centralize and anchor the company's activities in the country and allow for the global distribution of all chocolate produced by the company. The move is also aligned with Barry Callebaut’s smart growth strategy and will particularly complement its gourmet segment.

“The new Global Distribution Center is an adequate solution that responds to our growth, increases efficiency for our customers and guarantees improved mobility at the same time. In addition, the development of the GDC is a textbook example of the implementation of our smart growth strategy,” Massimo Garavaglia, President EMEA at Barry Callebaut, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

The selection process for the trusted private investor took two years.The facility will be rented by Barry Callebaut on a long-term contract and will have a new logistics low bay, as well as a fully automated high bay warehouse. Warehouses De Pauw (WDP), the real estate investment trust company developing the site, projects that there will be an investment of €100 million for this development. This includes investments in automatization, with a competitive yield in line with market returns for this type of top project.

“The selection process for the trusted location and private investor already has taken two years. For us, it was crucial to stay close to a clear business case based on growth from our global business, in particular from our gourmet segment, which is a crucial part of our smart growth strategy,” adds a Barry Callebaut spokesperson.

Currently, Barry Callebaut’s activities are spread throughout the Aalst region, but this will be consolidated, along with the projected company growth. Additionally, transport flows will be optimized by combining the logistics of the finished products with raw materials. The 85 people currently employed at the production site in Wieze will keep their jobs, with more people set to be recruited based on the projected GDC growth. 

The GDC’s location in the new industrial park E17/4 at Lokeren is ideally positioned close to motorway connections for easily accessing the Port of Antwerp. This, along with centralizing its chocolate, will help the company to optimize and increase the efficiency of its product flow. 

An entirely energy-neutral facility
Solar panels, the use of materials with low life-cycle cost, geothermal energy, charging stations for electric vehicles, and extensive facilities for cyclists will contribute towards the sustainability of the building. “We are very proud we can present a sustainable building. The GDC will be energy-neutral, which means that the energy produced by the solar panels equals the energy needed for our energy consumption. Being 100 percent energy-neutral is very important for Barry Callebaut and is a nice step forward in our Forever Chocolate strategy,” adds Garavaglia. Barry Callebaut has a sustainable Forever Chocolate strategy. 

As well as construction being in line with Barry Callebaut’s sustainable Forever Chocolate strategy – which aims to make sustainable chocolate the norm by 2025 and involves “becoming carbon and forest positive” –  it will also follow BREEAM’s multiple criteria. This includes monitoring the energy consumption, land use, ecology, the construction process, water use, waste, pollution, transport, materials, health and comfort.

The company’s move towards being more sustainable was also seen last month, when it piloted the Field to Market/Sustainable Agriculture Initiative’s (SAI) Equivalency Module with US farmers in order to assess supply chain sustainability. 

Barry Callebaut also managed to establish traceability for a third of its global cocoa volume and plans for this to rise to the entire volume by 2025.

By Katherine Durrell