Chilly perspective with Linde cold store solution

Case After several acquisitions, Lineage Logistics has established itself as a major distributor of temperature-controlled food products in Denmark. The global group has recently built a new cold storage at the Port of Aarhus, for which N.C. Nielsen has supplied a range of Linde cold store machines. They are now helping to keep internal logistics running in sub-zero temperatures and extreme conditions.

"Working in our cold storage is not for the faint-hearted. The chilled areas have a refrigeration temperature of five degrees and the freezer areas are set to minus 25 degrees. Our employees must therefore be suitably dressed, in good physical health and be able to handle our Linde machines under these special circumstances," says Anders Jacobsen, operations manager at Lineage Logistics in Aarhus.

The Lineage store is a major hub at the port. Enormous amounts of frozen fish, prawns and other seafood leave the ships and are placed on a fully automatic conveyor system in the cold storage area. A lift sends the pallets up to the first floor, where the products are sorted and repackaged according to size before being sent onwards to the cold store, where the Linde R20 reach trucks take over.

"We need to move products quickly. Linde forklifts and stackers are in constant operation in the receiving and delivery area, all while our specially adapted Linde cold store reach trucks tackle the demanding work in the freezer room, where pallets are handled at heights up to 10 metres. This places pretty big demands on machine operators and materials," says Anders Jacobsen.

The cold storage in Aarhus was built in record time. N.C. Nielsen was chosen as collaborative partner to be able to deliver a carefully adapted Linde machine fleet, which could quickly be integrated into the business concept at Lineage Logistics. The first delivery consists of seven Linde E18 electric forklift trucks, one Linde E18 cold store electric forklift, eight Linde T20 hand pallet trucks and four specially adapted Linde R20 cold store reach trucks packed with extra equipment.

"We are very pleased with N.C. Nielsen's solution-oriented approach. We get answers to our questions and the service technicians are fantastic ambassadors for the company. We speak the same language and communicate well together. The service technicians always remember to report back to me, once a job has been completed or when we need to have a realistic time horizon for an order," says Anders Jacobsen from Lineage Logistics.

Linde goes deep into the cold

The Linde machines for cold storage are designed to operate at temperatures right down to minus 30 degrees. They can easily switch between operation in the freezer room and the cold store, where they can charge their Lithium-ION batteries at a specially adapted recharging point. All the Linde models for driving in the freezer room are frost-resistant, robust and equipped with technology that makes the machine operator's tasks easier in the frosty working environment.

The cab of the Linde R20 reach trucks is insulated, constructed with a heater and designed with an ergonomic control panel for driving with gloves and thick boots. Screens are located in the cab so the operator can follow the pallet handling with peace of mind, thanks to the camera mounted on the forks. The machines run on a special oil, grease and hydraulic fluids for optimal effect under extreme conditions.

"We want to thank Lineage Logistics for choosing N.C. Nielsen and the Linde solution for their new cold store. We value a close collaboration and good technical service, where we have incorporated the Linde machine fleet into the logistics so that they have been able to maintain operations. There are multiple perspectives, especially when it comes to automating and digitising even more parts of their total warehouse logistics," says Max H. Nielsen from N.C. Nielsen.

Linde goes deep into the cold

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