GLP Breaks Ground on Two Cold Storage Warehouses Near Japan’s Kobe Port

GLP on Tuesday announced the start of construction on two fully refrigerated cold storage warehouses in Japan with a total floor area of 55,000 square metres (592,015 square feet).

GLP Kobe Sumiyoshihama and GLP Rokko V are near the port of Kobe in Japan’s Kansai region, the Singapore-based company said in a release. The purpose-built facilities are aimed at providing needed capacity to support the continued growth of the nation’s cold chain industry.

GLP Japan previously retrofitted 22 existing buildings spanning 220,000 square metres of space to make them suitable for frozen and refrigerated logistics use. The two new projects are touted to exceed market standards in terms of customer service levels and facility quality.

“In recent years, we have experienced a significant increase in customer demand for cold storage solutions,” said Yoshiyuki Chosa, president of GLP Japan. “We have sharpened our developmental and operational expertise in this area to provide the next generation of modern cold storage facilities to better serve existing and new customers. We continue to leverage our deep experience in logistics to provide highly versatile cold storage solutions to help customers expand their cold chain network.”

Fit for Purpose

GLP Kobe Sumiyoshihama comes billed as one of the largest leasable cold storage facilities in Japan, with a total floor area of 45,000 square metres.

The entire building is equipped with variable temperature zone technology that can be switched between freezing and refrigeration to cater to a range of clients including food manufacturers, food wholesalers and 3PL companies, GLP said.

GLP Rokko V is a frozen and refrigerated logistics facility developed in partnership with JA Mitsui Lease & Building Co for Fujiwara Unyu, a 3PL service provider.

As a logistics distributor of food and perishable goods, Fujiwara Unyu requires a network of temperature-controlled logistics bases throughout Japan, GLP said. With a total floor area of 10,000 square metres, GLP Rokko V will be used to support Fujiwara Unyu’s logistics services including distribution, processing, packing and climate-controlled storage of third-party goods.

As of 2022, GLP had delivered more than 3 million square metres of cold storage space across markets in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Kansai Collection

GLP in recent years has focused on development in the Kansai region, referring to the area comprising Kobe, Kyoto and Osaka on the country’s main island of Honshu.

In Osaka prefecture, the company is building GLP ALFALINK Ibaraki 1, a six-storey logistics facility with a total floor area of 165,000 square metres in Ibaraki, a city northeast of Osaka. GLP announced the start of construction in January 2022.

Last December, GLP bought a four-storey warehouse east of Osaka through its GLP Japan Income Fund. The 16,297 square metre building, completed in June of last year, is exclusively occupied by SBS Logicom Co, a Tokyo-based transport services firm and repeat GLP customer.

GLP owns and operates assets and businesses in 17 countries. GLP Capital Partners, with $125 billion in assets under management, is the exclusive investment and asset manager of the group.