CO₂ Refrigeration Retrofit in the Port of Rotterdam.
How a cold-store operator replaced an aging ammonia plant without closing a single chamber — by making the switchover sequence and the energy guarantee part of the contract, not the negotiation. Anonymised for confidentiality.
Client profile & engagement record
- Client
- Independent cold-store operator, deep-frozen and chilled chambers, Port of Rotterdam
- Scale at engagement
- ~38,000 pallet positions, continuous operation, no shutdown window
- Trigger
- Aging ammonia plant, rising energy cost and tightening regulatory outlook on refrigerants
- Starting point
- A like-for-like replacement quote and a growing view that it was the wrong project
- Global B2B Group role
- Built the energy baseline, structured a performance-based RFQ and normalised design-build proposals. Supplier-neutral throughout; the operator's board made the award.
Decision makers involved
- Managing Director — investment decision and customer continuity
- Technical Manager — plant design and switchover risk
- CFO — energy-linked financing and subsidy capture
- Operations Supervisor — chamber-by-chamber continuity plan
Engagement timeline
- Baseline
- Weeks 1–4 — twelve months of consumption modelled into a verified energy baseline
- RFQ issued
- Week 5 — performance-based schedule to four pre-qualified contractors
- Clarification
- Week 8 — switchover sequence and guarantee mechanics closed
- Award
- Week 15 — contract signed with a contractual energy guarantee
- Switchover
- Month 9 — final chamber migrated; zero product temperature excursions
Engagement record verified against the energy baseline, the performance RFQ and the post-retrofit metering data, and approved by the project owner before publication. Company name, site location and individual names are withheld under a confidentiality agreement; figures are rounded and published with the project owner's approval. Global B2B Group is supplier-neutral and does not manufacture, install, certify or lend.
Challenge
The obvious project — swap the aging ammonia plant for a newer one — was the wrong one. Refrigerant regulation was tightening, energy cost was the largest operating line, and a like-for-like replacement would lock in twenty more years of the same economics. But a technology change meant a phased retrofit of a plant that could never stop running.
Requirement structuring
Twelve months of metered consumption became a verified energy baseline — the yardstick every proposal would be guaranteed against. The RFQ then specified performance, not just plant: capacity and pull-down at defined conditions, a contractual energy guarantee, and a chamber-by-chamber switchover sequence that bidders had to price and commit to.
- Verified twelve-month energy baseline written into the contract
- Performance guarantee defined with measurement and remedy mechanics
- Switchover sequence priced per chamber — continuity was a quoted deliverable
- Refrigerant strategy (CO₂ cascade) fixed before design-build quotations
Comparable RFQ and normalisation
Four design-build contractors quoted against the same baseline and switchover sequence. Normalising capital cost, guaranteed consumption and heat-recovery value over ten years re-ranked the field: the lowest capital price carried the weakest guarantee and ranked third on evaluated ten-year cost.
- Lowest capital price ranked third on evaluated ten-year cost
- Heat-recovery value (underfloor heating, defrost) priced into the comparison
- Guarantee strength scored as a criterion, not accepted as marketing
- 31% modelled consumption saving against the verified baseline
Financing coordination
The verified baseline and guaranteed savings let the project file read like an energy investment, not a maintenance expense. A Dutch specialist lender structured a facility sized against the modelled savings, alongside a national energy-efficiency subsidy. Global B2B Group is not a lender, broker or financial adviser; approval, pricing and terms rested solely with the licensed institutions.
Controlled introductions
At no point was the buyer automatically connected to a contractor. Candidates were identified through technology-supported research, passed human review and fit validation against the written specification, and each commercial introduction was approved and coordinated by David and the authorised Global B2B Group team. Suppliers could not pay to be shortlisted, ranked or recommended.
Lessons learned
- Build the energy baseline before the RFQ — it is what makes guarantees comparable
- Specify performance and let contractors compete on design, not the reverse
- Make continuity a priced deliverable when the plant cannot stop
- A verified baseline turns a retrofit into a financeable energy investment
Structure a performance-based RFQ with the same checklist used in this engagement.
Local context for port logistics and refrigeration investment in the Netherlands.
The four-step method behind the baseline-first structuring used here.
How performance guarantees make efficiency projects financeable.
Planning a similar project?
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