Dubai-based importer-exporter Fresh Fruits Company (FFC) has confirmed that construction on its new head office and state-of-the-art coldstore facilities, located at Al Aweer wholesale market, will be completed in June or July.
The new head office, which features a distinctive leaf-shaped design, will be positioned adjacent to FFC’s new 43,500m2 coldstore facilities, which, according to the company’s Redha Mansouri, will be the largest in the Gulf region.
“It will have 14 banana ripening chambers,” he told Fruitnet.com, “which will have a capacity of 66 pallets per room. It also has 44 loading bays, enabling 44 trucks to load at the same time.”
According to technical manager Jalal Al Far, the new facilities make use of all the latest technologies, including automatic doors for loading, as well as temperature, humidity, CO2 and ethylene controls for each chamber.
In addition to FFC’s banana imports, the new facilities will handle all the company’s other produce, including apples, oranges and kiwifruit.
“The new facilities will improve our logistics and our general service to our customers,” Mr Mansouri said. “Through the use of cameras at the coldstore and GPS systems on the lorries, operations will be faster and more reliable. We will have perfect traceability and will be able to know the exact time of delivery.”
The company plans to close its current facility in Sharjah, but intends to keep its Dubai coldstore open. The latter is a mere six months old and has just gained ISO 22000 certification, the only coldstore to do so in the Middle East, according to Mr Mansouri.
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