Lineage Logistics — one of the world's largest provider of temperature-controlled supply chain and logistics solutions — has announced that it is more than doubling the capacity of its Vietnam facility in Bac Ninh, Hanoi.

In a statement, it said the facility will be expanded from 8,000 to 20,000-pallet positions to meet surging demand from customers servicing Vietnam’s growing perishable food sector.

The facility is currently used to store and distribute frozen, chilled, and ambient food products to northern Vietnam’s major regional centres and store food products for export, particularly seafood.

"The Hanoi facility expansion will further broaden our reach across Vietnam and Asia more broadly due to its prime location on the key trade routes with China and Southeast Asia," said Jeff Hogarth, Lineage's president of Asia Pacific, adding that Vietnam is a key food production and distribution hub.

Further expansion in Vietnam eyed

"So this is a strategic expansion that will benefit customers across the region," Hogarth noted. "We also see great potential for further expansion in Vietnam, given the region's underdeveloped cold store supply chain, growing customer demand for high quality logistics solutions and growing income levels, spurring consumption of more perishable goods."

Lineage said the expanded facility will incorporate solar panels as part of the company's ongoing commitment to sustainability.

Lineage Logistics noted that its Vietnam team has adapted throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, including staffing two Lineage facilities in Ho Chi Minh and Binh Duong to run continuously for three months to ensure essential foods were distributed to Vietnamese citizens.

Meanwhile, Vien Nguyen Huu, regional vice president at Lineage, said the construction of the Hanoi expansion has begun and is due to be completed in July 2022.

Lineage Logistics entered the Vietnamese market in 2019 with its acquisition of Preferred Freezer Services. The company has operations in Ho Chi Minh, Binh Duong and Bac Ninh.