For 27 years, Airclima has had a presence in the Netherlands as a Belgian family-owned refrigeration company. Whereas initially they only had their branch in Kontich (Antwerp, Belgium), since last year they have a new branch at the auction in Aalsmeer.
With customers such as FM Group, Floral Trade Group, and Agora, the company has built a base in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Meanwhile, Carlo's son Matthias Cuvelie has also joined the company. Father and son can be found at least two days a week in and around the flower auctions in Aalsmeer, Rijnsburg, and Naaldwijk, where they now also have their own team running around.
Dutch employees
Five Dutch employees signed a contract with Airclima around this time last year. These colleagues work in the region Aalsmeer. "Most customers are in this area, so it is a big advantage that they are locally based," Matthias said. "We are happy to have been able to give the employees a place in our company, and we are also actively looking for more new refrigeration engineers from the Westland region."
In addition, Airclima has also been servicing some of Celtic Refrigeration's customers following its bankruptcy last year. "We are happy that we can continue to help former employees as well as customers of Celtic," Matthias says.
Dutch office
"With the expansion of the Dutch team, an office couldn't be missing either." They moved into an office at the Auction last year, next to the premises of Koeltransport Aalsmeer where Airclima is renewing the building's all the cooling installations. This involves a total of 20,000 m² of refrigerated area. "We are working with two innovative refrigeration plants on the natural refrigerant CO₂." In all their plants, Airclima uses CO₂ as a natural refrigerant. They started with this seven years ago, today almost all new plants are based on this technology.
Matthias and Carlo Cuvelie
AGF and Pharma
Although cut flowers remain an important pillar, Airclima also wants to focus increasingly on other sectors such as Pharma and fresh produce. In recent years, the company has realized several projects in these sectors. According to Matthias they offer a lot of potential for further growth. "Technically, it is a slightly different story, because temperature and humidity are not always comparable for cut flowers or vegetables."
Family business
Despite the growth and expansion, Airclima remains a family business. "We want to stay close to our people and customers," Matthias stresses. Cooperation between the Belgian team and Dutch colleagues runs smoothly and is appreciated by all. "There is a real click between people," adds Carlo, "and the Dutch colleagues are very satisfied about working for a Belgian company."
For more information
Airclima
Veldkant 8
B-2550 Kontich, Belgium
Tel: +32 3 451 34 90
[email protected]
www.airclima.be