Katoen Natie recently developed a 216 hectare site into an active logistics park. The area is used as a 23 MW PV plant, and now has six wind turbines with a height of 185 meters each on the limited available surface. Contribution to a sustainable environment The turbines, with a total installed capacity of 19 MW, generate about 52 GWh per year. This comes down to the yearly electricity consumption of 13.000 households. In combination with the solar panels, Katoen Natie utilizes its assets as sustainable as possible, contributing to limit CO2 emission and helping to achieve the climate targets. Partnerships in creating green energy In order to exploit a wind farm, a strict 24/7 follow-up by highly trained people and highly professional equipment is required. There we found a partnership with EDF Luminus, who is the largest windmill constructor in Belgium. Together with their manufacturer, they built six high-tech wind turbines on Loghidden City. This project is EDF Luminus’ largest one ever executed on an industrial site. A challenge One of the key requirements was to keep the site operational during the construction period. The terminal is very active, as hundreds of trucks are loaded and unloaded every day. In order to meet this requirement the largest components were delivered only just in time, and were transported during night on trailers of up to 66 meters long. In addition, the wind turbine foundations are located very close to the warehouses, which causes the least obstruction. Inauguration On December 14 2017, Deputy prime minister and minister of Employment, Economy and Consumer Affairs Kris Peeters inaugurated the six windturbines. Watch the video: construction of wind turbines at Katoen Natie Kallo

Warehouse space with railroad access Upon start-up, the facility will have at least 250,000 square feet of warehouse space that may expand to up to 2.5MM square feet of space as warranted by market conditions. The space will have direct railroad acces, served by Union Pacific. Scheduled for completion in the third quarter 2018, this facility will become Katoen Natie's 20th NAFTA location. Producers will ship bulk railcars of plastic resin pellets to the warehouse where the pellets will be packaged and loaded into intermodal containers. After a short trip to the adjacent intermodal terminal, Union Pacific's Dallas to Dock service will transport the containers to ocean ports via premium intermodal service. Container availability "We are committed to providing service solutions to the petrochemical industry", said Kenny Rocker, Union Pacific Vice President & General Manager - Industrial. "Katoen Natie's Dallas location alligns with container availability, a core need of our customer base. From Dallas, Union Pacific's premium intermodal services deliver to the West Coast where producers are able to export to global destinations." "The Dallas facility will assist our customers in diversifying their export channels to global markets", said Frank Vingerhoets, President of Katoen Natie USA. Read more about it here

Katoen Natie and Allied are launching its SuperTruck concept in Singapore for transport between chemical plants, our own logistics terminal and Singapore container terminals. We will introduce SuperTrucks that carry two 40 foot or four 20 foot containers. Transport solutions of the future Katoen Natie Singapore chief executive Koen Cardon highlights; “ We are continuously looking for innovative and new solutions to optimize our logistics operations. We work with our business partners to introduce new solutions to increase productivity and efficiency. We have been working closely with Allied to implement this SuperTruck concept whereby they have demonstrated entrepreneurship and innovative thinking.   Shortage of drivers is a real challenge in Singapore and we need such innovative solutions to address this." Lim Kian Chin, chief executive of Allied ; “ We have been servicing Katoen Natie in Singapore for more than a decade and highly value the partnership with them as they continue to work with us on improving the service level and solutions. It is important that we work on the transport solutions of the future. “ Andrew McKeown, Katoen Natie ISO Tank Operations regional manager commented, “When it comes to innovation, the execution is far more valuable than theory alone. We must be bold and look to deliver value. Partners such as Allied and the Singapore Government allow us just that in our journey to service our customers better and all be prepared for future growth.” Innovation projects Katoen Natie and Allied are working with the Singapore Government Authorities on the certifications and operational framework for the SuperTruck. Koen Cardon; “This is one of the many innovation projects we are currently working on. Katoen Natie has a strong engineering division in material handling solutions what allows us to be at the forefront in innovation.” Katoen Natie launched in October 2017 the first driverless truck in Singapore and is looking to expand the fleet of driverless vehicles. Find out what Katoen Natie can do for your business.

Katoen Natie has started operating its first driverless truck at ExxonMobil’s world-scale integrated manufacturing site in Singapore, transporting products between the company’s packaging and intermediate storage facilities. The pilot truck will operate on a 24/7 basis moving some 250,000 tons of product annually. After a six-month test run, the project will be gradually expanded to 12 trucks, moving some 3 million tons of product annually. Innovative and tailor made solutions Mr. Koen Cardon, CEO of Katoen Natie Singapore, said, “We combine engineering, technology and logistics operations to offer innovative and tailor made solutions to customers in a variety of sectors. This project is a perfect example of the innovation we bring to the forefront to create value for our customers as well as creating the opportunities to upgrade the skills of our workforce.” “We are excited to support Katoen Natie in making this innovative breakthrough in chemical logistics, and helping the world envision how the future of transport will look like,” said Damian Chan, Executive Director, Energy & Chemicals, Singapore Economic Development Board. “The transformation of our industry cannot happen without a well-trained and future-ready workforce, and Katoen Natie’s commitment to retrain and upskill their workers exemplifies Singapore’s continuous efforts to ensure our talent is ready to take on jobs of the future.” Automation to improve productivity Mr. Robert W. Johnston, ExxonMobil’s Singapore Chemical Plant manufacturing director said, “Driverless trucks are an example of how the industry continues to adopt automation to improve worker productivity. We are glad to be supporting Katoen Natie in its efforts to safely operationalise new and innovative solutions at our manufacturing site.” Mr. Cardon added, “We operate 165 logistics terminals in a network of 36 countries. We selected Singapore as the location for this project given that it has both the vision and the right business environment to undertake such projects. Our partnership with the Economic Development Board has been of key importance for the realization of this project. In addition, many other parties including a team of MBA students from the Singapore Management University (SMU) and the IE Business School have been pivotal for this project.” SMU’s Associate Professor of Operations Management (Practice), Professor Lieven Demeester, who guided students in his previous role as Associate Dean of MBA Programmes commented, “We are proud of our MBA students. They helped Katoen Natie identify the technology partners, initiate a productive collaboration between them, and assure the financial viability of the project.” Katoen Natie also worked with Dutch industrial VDL Groep as partner for this project, who carried out the truck conversion and automation at its local VDL Automated Vehicles technology centre here in Singapore. Mr. Theo Toussaint, Executive Vice President of VDL Groep, said, “We’re delighted to partner with Katoen Natie in this driverless truck project. The ambition of VDL is to become the leader in electric and automated heavy-duty vehicle applications and we see this project as another big step towards our goal.” Not an endgame Since establishment in Singapore 20 years ago, Katoen Natie has developed many new solutions in Singapore that includes safety inspections by drone, transport management through a specially developed mobile phone app and a range of new technologies in packaging and shipping operations. Mr. Cardon said, “The pilot driverless truck project is not an endgame but a milestone in a wide range of innovative solutions that we are introducing for our customers worldwide. Our Singapore operations have become a centre of excellence for Katoen Natie which will enable us to create value for our customers across the world.” Watch the full video of the first autonomous truck operating in Jurong Island Singapore