By Eamonn Ryan
At the recent GCCA Africa Conference, a highly engaging panel discussion tackled two of the most critical topics facing cold storage operators across the continent: energy management and fire safety. Moderated by Shane Brennan, part of the global leadership team at GCCA, the panel brought together a diverse group of experts:
- Petrie van der Merwe, senior mechanical engineer at Energy Partners Refrigeration
- Roy Weghorst, head of regulatory affairs – fire: Kingspan Group
- Richard Doyle, managing director of DDR Group
- Jan-Cornell van Ekris, Boltrics commercial director
This is part two of a six-part series.
Specifying the right insulation: the hidden risk of moisture – Roy Weghorst, Kingspan/Isocab
Representing Kingspan and bringing a global fire safety perspective, Roy Weghorst tackled the role of insulation and panel performance. He challenged the assumption that “you get what you pay for” is the right question when specifying panels.
“The better question is: are you getting what you expect?” he said. Poor specification and installation can lead to moisture ingress, which drastically reduces thermal performance – even if the product meets cost or brand expectations.
Weghorst urged project teams to think long-term. “The capex is not the expensive part,” he noted. “Adding extra insulation and specifying closed-cell materials can make a huge difference over time.” He also warned against using EPS panels, still common in Africa, which are no longer used in Europe due to their poor fire resistance. These panels, he argued, pose major fire risks, particularly in buildings vulnerable to external ignition.
Operational efficiency through smarter warehouse processes: Jan-Cornell van Ekris, Boltrics
Providing a warehouse management systems (WMS) perspective, Van Ekris focused on how operational processes directly impact energy use.
He illustrated how smarter warehouse task planning – such as reducing door openings or consolidating picking and loading activities – can lower energy consumption. For example, by grouping frozen goods near the exit and then using a single trip to move multiple pallets through the door, facilities can minimise temperature loss.
“Optimising productivity can go hand-in-hand with reducing energy costs. It’s about thinking smarter about how and when goods move in and out of the cold zones,” van Ekris explained.
He also highlighted task interleaving – planning warehouse movements to reduce unnecessary traffic in and out of the freezer zones – as a strategy that offers both efficiency and energy savings.