Cold storage is officially coming to Port Saint John.
Americold Realty Trust, a global leader in temperature-controlled industry, announced plans to develop its first Import-Export Hub in Canada along the Saint John, N.B., waterfront.
Americold says the facility will also be a first-of-its-kind worldwide to bring together its cold storage operations with the capabilities of DP World and the rail lines of Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC).
“We’re absolutely thrilled,” says Port Saint John CEO Craig Bell Estabrooks.
“This is something we’ve been working on for quite some time and to see this type of foreign direct investment come to our port and for it to be such a value-added service. We look at cold storage as one of the most crucial value-added services for a port. We don’t live in a populated area that a container service would come and service just the population of Saint John. We are still relatively small on the global scale so when you can have that type of warehousing, specifically cold storage anchored in your port, we just become that much more attractive to the container line.”
It will cost $100 million to construct the facility, which is being covered by the company. Once built, it will create 100 additional jobs along the harbour.
Bell Estabrooks says the cold storage facility will help attract more customers to Saint John.
“When you have the cargo anchored here in a facility that’s world class that Americold is going to build, we think it’s good for the existing lines to help the value proposition that they have, but maybe even in the attraction of different services going forward,” Bell Estabrooks says.
“It’s exciting because we’re actually seeing tangible jobs being created on the waterfront.”
Construction on the new facility is expected to begin in the months ahead, with a goal of having the facility operational in 2026.
The facility will primarily aim to connect Central and Eastern Canada, Europe, South America, and the APAC region. The expansion is estimated to contribute upwards of $37 million in direct provincial GDP.
“Developing a state-of-the-art facility in Port Saint John marks an exciting step forward for Americold as the Company expands into a strategically compelling geography serving high-volume international routes, providing unparalleled opportunities for integration with our premier partners in DP World and CPKC,” said George Chappelle, chief executive officer at Americold, in a news release.
“Port Saint John has been the beneficiary of significant investments in recent years from both DP World and CPKC, and the infrastructure they have built has attracted major global shipping lines to this location. We are confident the opportunity for Americold to bring world class cold storage and value-added services to the Port – and to enhance food flows primarily between Central and Eastern Canada and Europe, South America and the APAC region – represents an attractive path to long-term value creation for both our customers and our shareholders.”
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