Logistics giant Katoen Natie to invest S$60 million in new Jurong Island facility

[SINGAPORE] Chemical logistics player Katoen Natie is investing S$60 million in a new warehouse on Jurong Island that will boost its storage capacity at the petrochemicals hub by more than 20 per cent.

The move comes amid disruption to the chemicals supply with the Middle East war, and brings the Luxembourg-based company’s total investment in Singapore to around S$250 million to date.

This underscores its confidence in the Republic as a global hub, said chief executive officer for the city-state, Koen Cardon, at a launch event at Jurong Island on Tuesday (Mar 31).

Called Jurong Logistics Terminal 5 (JLT5), the facility is a two-storey ramp-up warehouse at 1 Banyan Place, with a gross floor area of about 37,000 square metres (sq m).

Katoen Natie is investing an additional S$3.1 million in a fully automated storage and retrieval system at the same location, with support from government agency Enterprise Singapore.

The system is designed to enhance storage density and support high-throughput and technology-enabled logistics, the company said.

The system will be planned over two phases, with the first phase spanning 7,000 sq m, or 7,500 pallets in capacity. Completion is expected in the fourth quarter of this year.

Katoen Natie’s JLT5 investment will create 25 jobs, with some workers to be upskilled to support artificial intelligence adoption and maintenance work on the automated system.

The project reflects Katoen Natie’s “confidence in Singapore as a key node for regional energy and chemicals supply chains”, said Kelly Lai, head of chemicals and materials at the Singapore Economic Development Board.

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The Middle East conflict highlights the need for logistics facilities such as JLT5 to keep supply chains moving smoothly, said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Gan Siow Huang, who spoke at Tuesday’s event.

The JLT5 development will also feature a large-scale rooftop solar photovoltaic system, with a total capacity of 2.7 megawatt-peak, which can generate about 3.4 megawatt-hours of clean power annually.

Katoen Natie was the first company on Jurong Island to export excess solar power back to the grid. It began rooftop solar installations in 2014, which was expanded four years later.

All of Katoen Natie Singapore’s logistics terminals are fully solar-powered and generate an average of just over 10 GWh of renewable energy annually. This is enough to power more than 2,400 three-room Housing & Development Board HDB flats.