The world's tallest freezer

Pearl River Delta - it sounds romantic. But the reality of this booming region is stark: with mega-cities such as Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the largest urban conglomerate in the world is developing here, with a population of over 60 million. Hubs in the urban peripheral zones take on important distribution roles, but are located on increasingly expensive land. High-bay warehouses offer a solution. In Shenzhen, the megacity north of Hong Kong, the Austrian specialists at voestalpine Krems Finaltechnik GmbH have built the high-bay racking system for the world's largest deep-freeze warehouse in silo design.

Strategic partnership

"We achieve the best utilization of the building plots with rack heights that are well above the 24-meter mark. A height of 45 meters was calculated as the optimum for Shenzhen. Domestic companies have not yet been able to realize automated systems of this category in a quality that meets the technical and climatic conditions on site," says Berthold Zeilermayr, describing the situation. He works at voestalpine Krems Finaltechnik GmbH as team leader for projects outside Europe. Like many local system integrators, the general contractor from Shenzhen therefore drew on tried and tested expertise from Europe. "For our Chinese partner, our experience in the construction of high-bay warehouses of this size in silo design was decisive - for us, this order ideally supports our further positioning in a rapidly growing market environment," says Zeilermayr, outlining the start of the strategic cooperation with the local general contractor.

Genzon deep-freeze warehouse - The facts

• Shenzhen, South China (eastern Pearl River Delta)
• Fully automated deep-freeze warehouse for foodstuffs
• Floor space: 9,800 m²
• Cold storage space: 435,000 m³
• Dimensions (L/W/H): 85/116/45 m
• Deep-freeze temperature -28 °C
• 69,952 pallet spaces (industrial pallets 1,000 x 1,200 mm)
• Double-deep linear warehouse in silo design
• 18 storage levels, 16 aisles with 1 storage and retrieval machine each

A challenge for statics

The client, Genzon Property Group Co., Ltd., is investing in the logistics future of the southern Chinese megalopolis with this superlative deep-freeze warehouse. With a cold storage volume of 435,000 cubic meters and 70,000 storage spaces for standard industrial pallets, the Genzon Group's fully automated deep-freeze warehouse is by no means oversized for Shenzhen. The dimensions of the warehouse were not least a challenge for the structural engineers. In the region affected by tropical cyclones, peak wind speeds of 224 km/h were specified by the building authorities; the size and location of the structure resulted in an extremely high dynamic pressure of more than 2.4 kN/m². This must be absorbed and dissipated by the profiles of the high-bay warehouse - without jeopardizing safe operation inside the building and the functioning of the warehouse automation system. Storage and retrieval machines from a German specialist ensure smooth storage and retrieval. "In close cooperation with this partner, we were able to guarantee compliance with the low tolerances required for an object of these dimensions," explains sales representative Thomas Stuphann, voestalpine Krems Finaltechnik.

Upwards with higher-strength materials

A comprehensive, verifiable structural analysis based on Eurocode and the national Chinese standards was created for the deep-freeze warehouse on the Pearl River Delta and full FEM conformity was verified to the satisfaction of the local authorities. "By using higher-strength materials, we achieve an increase in load-bearing capacity and can cope with the enormous wind load," says Zeilermayr. "In Shenzhen, we used materials with special qualities that have an approximately 30 percent higher yield strength."

Volkmar Held