On 14 May 2007 Bulgaria’s minister of transport Peter Mutafchiev will turn the first sod of the biggest logistics center for frozen and chilled foods in the Balkans - Fresh Logic in Plovdiv’s industrial zone, Bella Bulgaria announced.

Some 25 mln euro will be invested in the project which is expected to become operational in the end of 2007 and to create 100 new jobs.

The center will be situated in Plovdiv’s industrial zone in direct proximity to the Trakia highway. It s location in Central Bulgaria will allow fast product deliveries to any part of Bulgaria.

The design of FRESH LOGIC, which will be the biggest and single technological logistic center with refrigerator chambers on the Balkans, began in June 2006. The project’s execution was assigned to the leader in supply chains logistic solution KNAPP Systemintegration GmbH.

A plan for the construction of a fully automated warehouse was developed after detailed analysis of the facility’s efficiency and maximum space utilization. The plan is expected to cut operational and labour costs and to ensure minimum pollution while guaranteeing the employees’ safety. The building works will be executed by Spain’s Mecalux – one of the leading warehouse system developers on the market.

The logistic base will dispose of two separate warehouses – a raw material warehouse and a ready produce warehouse, which will allow separate storage of any type of material. IT will offer 4,662 pallet slots, arranged on a refrigerated area of 2,780 sq m with temperate of 0 to +4 º С and 10,080 pallet slots arranged on a refrigerated area of 2,350 sq m with temperate of – 20 º С.

Each warehouse will have grouping sections, which will allow sorting different articles on one pallet depending on the needs of major international food chains. The base’s storage capacity will be more than 480 t of ready products and over 450 t of raw materials a day. The center will be served by its own car park of 165 special refrigerator trucks with a loading capacity of 2 to 22 t and temperate range of 0 º С to – 30 º С.