SHAH ALAM — PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd projects its cold warehousing business revenue to reach RM6 million this year, as part of the company’s business diversification away from logistics towards a greater focus on the food and beverage (F&B) industry.

Chief executive officer and managing director Datuk Michael Tio said PKT is aiming to grow the segment into a significant contributor towards the company’s revenue with the expectation for the segment to contribute around RM76 million by 2020.

“With the completion of this cold warehouse, PKT shall focus on tapping the logistics and distribution potentials for the growing food and beverage industry in Malaysia.

“We are confident that we can achieve around 10% market share in five years,” he said during the launch of the group’s first cold warehouse here yesterday.

Tio said the shift in focus was part of PKT’s joint venture agreement with Daisei Holdings Corp Ltd earlier this year in February, which resulted in the formation of the JV company PKT every24 Logistics Sdn Bhd in May.

“PKT’s strategic partnership with Daisei has propelled us into the cold logistics segment. With this cold warehouse, we are now able to offer these services to our customers in the F&B industry,” he said.

To cope with increasing demand, he said the company would upgrade its current cold warehouse capacity of around 7,000 sq ft to 20,000 sq ft by next year. In total, PKT’s warehouse is around 150,000 sq ft.

He said the investment to expand its capacity would cost around RM10 million.

“It is a small portion of our warehouse capacity but we have a plan to expand it to accommodate for chilled items in the future,” he said.

Tio said the construction of the warehouse started in early August and was completed on schedule in early October.

He said the growth of the sector has been encouraging for the company, as revenue in the F&B industry currently amounts to RM70 billion and is growing at 15% per annum.

“The market size of the chilled and frozen F&B logistic segment is RM700 million and 60% of this is outsourced to other companies.

“This is where we come in. Based on our revenue projection, we are confident that we can serve the market,” Tio said.

The design and construction of PKT’s cold warehouse was undertaken by Japanese cold room specialist, Matsuhashi Reinetsu Malaysia Sdn Bhd, in accordance to Japanese industry standards.