Iconic ‘time bomb’ cold store shut down
Print Edition
A famous cold store in downtown Shanghai described by its own management as “a huge time bomb” has been shut down for safety reasons after 50 years in operation, an official said yesterday.
The last remaining supply of the flammable liquid ammonia used to run its refrigeration system has been removed from the Shenhong refrigeration and transport company’s facility in Yangpu District.
“It is like removing a huge time bomb from downtown Shanghai,” Lu Taojun, a senior official with the company, told Shanghai Daily.
The company has relocated the cold store, the largest in East Asia, to the outskirts of Qingpu District where a safer refrigerant is being used, Lu said.
The former cold store will be kept as a heritage site and turned into a cultural public attraction similar to the 1933 Old Millfun, a former slaughterhouse in Hongkou District.
The cold store comprises two separate buildings covering an area of 36,000 square meters at the intersection of Zhoujiazui and Jungong roads. It was built in 1966 with a total capacity of about 20,000 tons of meat. It is said that during its heyday, all meat gracing local dining tables came through it.
Before the closure process began, over 60 percent of the city’s meat products were stored in it, and over 3,000 tons moved in and out of the store daily, according to the company.
More than 80 tons of liquid ammonia, a dangerous chemical with a pungent smell, were once stored in the facility. Concerned about safety issues arising from the deterioration of the facility over five decades, the district government asked the company to gradually close it, Lu said.
Shenhong started closing the cold store in September 2015, and in April, its ammonia compressors were shut down and the ice inside began to melt, she said. A nearby meat market has also been closed due to the relocation of the company, she added.
The district government has listed the cold store’s two tower refrigerators as district-level protected historic buildings, a government official said yesterday.
The government will work with the cultural heritage authority on planning the future of the buildings, he added.
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