It is currently the busiest time of year at Luik Natie. Every week, this Belgian storage and transshipment company processes more than 200 containers of products, including bananas, mangoes, and potatoes. These all coincide now. "Normally, the West African mango season follows potatoes from Egypt and Israel. But those are continuing a bit longer, so it's all hands on deck for a while," begins Jakob Van Poucke.
"The Egyptian and Israeli potato volumes usually plummet now, and we shift our focus to mangoes and bananas. However, March and April's bad weather means potatoes must still be planted in Belgium and the Netherlands. Add that it's been very dry in Spain so that supply isn't optimal either. To deal with the shortage, Egypt and Israel are, thus, going on a bit longer, with more volumes."
The West African mango season started around three weeks ago. "Those will be coming in in peak numbers over the next few weeks. We'll be getting 50 and 90 containers a week from Ivory Coast, Mali, and Burkina Faso, bringing us to a total volume of 400 to 500 containers of mangoes over the whole season. That's comparable to last year. Qualitatively, they look great, maybe even better than previous years," says Jakob. This season runs roughly until mid-June, after which the switch will be made to Senegalese mangoes.
200 containers per week
Besides seasonal products such as mangoes and potatoes, Luik Natie also processes year-round products like bananas and pineapple. "With bananas, we're at an average of 120 containers per week, mostly from Ecuador. Some are coming in from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Costa Rica, too."
"In addition to our fresh cold store, we have the frozen cold stores, too, where we receive plenty of volumes of frozen fries, among other things, daily. Overall, that means we're pretty much at our limit, volume-wise this year, which is, obviously, fantastic," Jakob explains.
"We received 200 containers this weekend. Then, of course, everyone wants their container first thing Monday. We, thus, work on Saturday mornings to get everything neatly to our customers on Monday. The containers are collected until midnight on Friday and unloaded on Saturday morning."
"That's so the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain can start inspecting the mangoes and bananas on Monday morning, and we can start loading and delivering them the same day. We offer the full-service package, but things are genuinely hectic at this time of year," says Van Poucke.
"But, it's wonderful that everything seems to be normalizing quite well again. Last year, frozen food sector volumes, for example, were somewhat disappointing. We had to really look for products to stock up on. Now, though, we have enough stock in our freezer again, and people are increasingly looking for external storage. Then we stand out because we're in the middle of the port of Antwerp."
"It won't work to send 15 trucks back and forth from West Flanders or the Netherlands to the port. Ask us to pick up 15 empty containers for export in the morning, load them up, and deliver them full to the quay in the afternoon; no problem. We have that advantage over companies outside the port," Jakob continues.
CO2 neutral
Still, many cold and freezer facilities struggled, given the recent energy prices. "We're coming out of a difficult period, but fortunately committed strongly to CO2 neutrality before that. We have a wind turbine (we were the first to buy one of those), 6,000 roof solar panels, and a rainwater system for our cold store cooling. We're also the first company in the Benelux to store energy with an Engie battery. We've managed to reduce costs and have had excellent years."
According to Jakob, last year was one of growth for the company. "We had a fantastic year. Frozen was a little more difficult, but fresh went very well. This year, too, we're pretty much at our limit. The spring is already fully booked for both fresh and frozen volumes, and the fall also looks very positive. Energy prices have also dropped slightly again, so with those higher volumes, our company's been able to make strides. We want to keep that up in the coming years," he concludes.
For more information:
Jakob Van Poucke
Luik Natie
1145 Kruipin haven
9130, Kallo, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 356 16 300
Email: jakob.vanpoucke@luiknatie.be
Website: www.luiknatie.be