CMA CGM is to take a long-term lease and invest in a build-to-suit, multi-temperature warehouse facility at DP World London Gateway Logistics Park.

The CMA CGM Group will occupy, through its international freight forwarding and logistics solutions subsidiary, a one hectare cold store facility within a 2.4 hectare logistics plot development on the River Thames and located close to main road access into the London area.

This state-of-the-art facility, fitted with IT traceability and management systems, represents a major milestone for the CMA CGM Group’s strategy to develop a global range of products in maritime transportation but also in inland solutions and logistics.

With this unique cold store, the Group will not only feature chilled and frozen chambers to handle a large variety of temperature-controlled products but it will also offer customers a wide range of added value services such as, product quality controls, packing, sorting, labelling, palletisation or bagging. It will also offer customs clearance, shunting (transfer from the quay to the warehouse) and delivery transportation (last-mile delivery).

The new cold store will be a real logistical platform gathering several types of work and expertise in a single place for a more efficient and reliable customer experience.

Work will start later this year, and the facility will become operational in early summer of 2019.

Alexis Michel, CMA CGM Group Senior Vice President Inland Activities, said: “This is an important step forward for CMA CGM and we’re looking forward to adding even greater value to the operations of our customers through the development of this facility."

Chris Lewis, Chief Executive Officer, DP World UK, said: “We’re delighted that the CMA CGM Group is establishing a temperature-controlled warehouse & logistics services on DP World London Gateway’s Logistics Park."