BAWC renews Norbert Dentressangle’s contract

British Airways World Cargo (BAWC) has renewed its contract with Norbert Dentressangle for another five years, extending a partnership that started more than ten years ago.

Originally appointed by BAWC in 1998, Norbert Dentressangle Logistics UK operates BAWC’s 69,000 sq.ft Perishables Handling Centre at Heathrow Airport, providing a complete service from aircraft to shelf, typically within 24 hours.

Consignments of fresh produce arriving from BAWC’s three London gateways at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted are transferred to the centre in refrigerated vehicles. All consignments are handled in a controlled environment until ready for despatch direct to supermarket distribution centres and markets.

Open 24/7, the fully chilled facility is the largest chilled airfreight distribution centre in the UK. In 2010, the centre is expected to handle around 120,000 tonnes of fresh produce.

Norbert Dentressangle is responsible for all activities within the centre, including on-site customs clearance, container unloading, sorting of consignments to individual customer orders, blast cooling, storage and stock control in segregated cold stores, quality control inspection and shelf-life testing, labelling and order picking, store tray assembly and onward distribution to retailers‘ RDCs.