The Catone family decided to systematically develop the site, relocating a significant part of its activities to Hungary. Taking into account the conditions of the site and the ideas and regulations of the local government, the first investment was launched in 2008, worth HUF 1.5 billion: the construction of a 5,600-square-meter, 11,500-pallet and the construction of a freezer warehouse in minus 25 degrees Celsius.
Subsequently, the large commercial tenders also accelerated the pace of investment. In 2011, a new warehouse with a storage capacity of 11,800 square meters, 4,200 pallets refrigerated (plus 4-6 degrees Celsius), 4,600 pallets dry and 4,200 pallets deep-frozen (minus 25 degrees Celsius) was completed, with an investment of HUF 2.1 billion. The completed warehouses were immediately filled with goods, and the infrastructure that met the highest requirements attracted new customers, which further accelerated the pace of investments.
The following development was completed in 2015: a 2,800-square-meter freezer warehouse with a storage capacity of 4,200 pallets, for HUF 0.6 billion. In 2016, another investment followed: a 4,500-square-meter freezer warehouse with a storage capacity of 7,200 pallets, worth HUF 1.3 billion.
The built warehouses were built in a uniform-looking, reinforced concrete building on a “house-in-house” basis, with built-in thermal insulation and state-of-the-art, ultra modern, automatically controlled refrigeration. In parallel with the building investments, the owner also renovated and expanded the site’s own industrial track. As a result, the loading area has been directly connected to the warehouses, which established the possibility of intermodal logistics activities.
Catone Ltd. is committed to environmental protection, so we plan to partially replace road transport with rail transport – our largest customers are also interested in this.
Over the years, the vehicle fleet has also been completely renewed, Catone Kft. purchased 40 new trucks worth HUF 0.9 billion in 2020. We currently carry out domestic and international transport activities with 60 Euro6 category trucks. During the period presented, the company’s headcount and sales doubled, and equity increased from 0.15 billion to 2.9 billion.
Catone Kft. has become the market leader in deep-frozen logistics in Hungary. We will soon arrive at another defining milestone in our 25-year history in Hungary: in order to serve the further needs of our key partners and expand our services, we have planned to build a new cold store.
