One of the first major investments by Nippon Gases Europe upon completing its purchase of the Praxair Gases Europe business in December 2018, was the construction of a £9.5m ($12.1m) carbon dioxide (CO2) import and distribution terminal at Warrenpoint Port, Northern Ireland.
The 2,500 tonnes capacity facility stores liquid CO2 for the food and drinks industry across Ireland and from the outset, aimed to ‘significantly improve’ security of supply for the gas on both sides of the border. It was, after all, an investment that came not just hot on the heels of the formation of Nippon Gases Europe but also after arguably the biggest CO2 shortage crisis in Europe in recent decades.
For many the summer of 2018 was synonymous with the great CO2 shortages across the UK, Ireland and indeed Mexico. For the first time it took the importance of CO2 into the mainstream, into public households across the UK and Europe as the future of products such as beer, soft drinks and crumpets were effectively on the line for many weeks. Though that veritable storm in a pint glass eventually passed and the crisis is but a memory, it became abundantly clear that the traditional fine line the CO2 supply chain walks required strengthening.
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