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The coldest cubic metre is the most expensive one you own

In a cold store the cubic metre costs more than anywhere else in the building, and it is also the worst place for a person to work. Automating the chamber tackles both at once: it densifies the expensive volume and takes people out of the cold. Temperature sets the limit: a shuttle robot works down to −25 °C, and if your chamber runs colder, the right machine is the stacker crane, which goes down to −30 °C. STOKA designs, imports, installs, integrates and supports both.

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Why is cold storage the most expensive part of any warehouse?

Because on top of the floor area you pay for the insulation, the refrigeration plant and the energy that keeps it running all year. Every cold cubic metre carries that cost, full or empty. And every time a door opens to let a forklift through, part of that cold goes outside.

What a cold store shuttle robot actually is

It is the same cart that works inside the racking channel, built to operate within the chamber rather than outside it. The difference starts with the figure that settles everything: shuttles work down to −25 °C. Below that temperature the right machine is the pallet stacker crane, which travels along the aisle lifting the load to its position and goes down to −30 °C. That contrast is not a technical sheet detail: it settles the whole system before density, layout or budget. From there down, the cold version differs in lubricants and components prepared for low temperature, in how condensation and ice are handled when something crosses from the chamber to ambient conditions, in how batteries perform, and in the airlocks or curtains separating zones. Storage logic and software are the same as in any other shuttle.

The figure that decides: −25 °C for the shuttle, −30 °C for the stacker crane

Before talking about density, layout or budget, one question has to be settled: what temperature does your chamber actually run at. The shuttle robot goes down to −25 °C.

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The pallet stacker crane goes down to −30 °C. Five degrees that in practice separate two different projects, each with its own structure, rhythm and cost. And the figure to bring to the survey is not the nominal temperature on the control panel but the real working one: measured at the coldest point, at the worst moment of the cycle, with the chamber loaded and in full operation. A chamber declared at −22 °C that reads −27 °C at the back after an unloading is a different chamber. Starting here avoids the worst possible ending to a project: discovering the thermal limit once the equipment has been bought. If you do not have the measurement, it is taken during the survey.

What changes inside the chamber: lubricants, ice and batteries

Cold attacks the equipment from four sides. Lubricants thicken, so the ones formulated for low temperature are used; otherwise the cart starts demanding more than it should of every movement.

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Moisture turns into ice: every time something crosses from the chamber to ambient conditions, water condenses on it, and that water freezes on the next cycle over guides, sensors and contacts. That is why routes, dwell times and defrost routines are settled before anything is installed. Batteries perform differently in the cold: they deliver less and charge worse, so the charging area and the cycle times are sized with that built in. And finally there are the airlocks and curtains between zones, where the automation project meets the refrigeration one: they settle where the load passes through, how much cold air is lost at each pass and what equipment can stand on each side.

The saving you cannot see: every door opening costs energy

Premium industrial rent in Greater Buenos Aires stands at USD 7.33 per m² per month (CBRE, second quarter of 2026), and on top of that baseline a cold store adds insulation, plant and energy. That is where a cost appears that no racking quotation shows: the cold that escapes.

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In a chamber run with forklifts the door opens on every movement, stays open while the machine goes in or out and lets through warm, humid air that then has to be cooled and dried again. That same air is what forms the ice on the floor and on the evaporators. An automated system changes the pattern: the load enters and leaves through a defined point, with fewer openings and for less time, and the interior no longer needs permanent lighting or people moving about. We do not publish an energy saving figure because it depends on your chamber; it is calculated during the survey, with your own movements.

The people who work inside the cold today

A frozen chamber is a hostile workplace. Thermal clothing slows everything down, visibility drops with the fog, and the shift is organised around compulsory recovery breaks outside the cold: an hour worked yields less than the same hour in an ambient warehouse.

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The employer cost of a warehouse operative is USD 965 per month, around USD 11,580 a year, under collective agreement 40/89 for the logistics branch as of June 2026, with social charges accounting for 34.6% of labour cost (IARAF, February 2026). In a chamber that cost per unit moved rises, because the same person moves less. Automating does not delete the job: it moves it to the other side of the door, to the picking aisle, to system control and to maintenance, where a person is productive and does not freeze.

What defines a shuttle project in a cold store?

We do not publish model-by-model specification tables: the detailed sheet comes with the assessment, sized against your operation. These are the criteria the choice is made on.

The real working temperature
The first criterion and the most final: down to −25 °C the shuttle applies; colder than that the stacker crane does, going down to −30 °C. It is measured at the coldest point and at the worst moment of the cycle, not on the control panel.
The crossing between cold and ambient
Where the chamber ends and the ambient warehouse begins settles airlocks, curtains, condensation and defrost routines. It is the layout decision with the greatest impact on maintenance, and it is best taken before choosing equipment.
Turnover and volume per reference
A deep channel is paid for in despatch order. In cold storage that combines with expiry dates and batches, so settle whether you need the oldest goods out first and plan for channels with access at both ends.
Clear height and floor condition of the chamber
Automated systems work between 7 and 40 metres. Height is measured to the lowest interfering point, evaporators included, and the floor is verified on site: flatness and permissible load decide whether the cart runs evenly.
How many people are inside the cold today
Count the person-hours worked inside the chamber and the recovery breaks the shift demands. That figure, crossed with the employer cost of an operative, is half the business case; the other half is the volume you gain, which can reach three times current density.

Engineering for your operation

When is automating the cold store the wrong move?

Our approach

When the chamber is small, the answer is almost always no: the fixed cost of the system is not spread across enough positions and the 18 to 36 month payback we work with stops adding up. The same applies when turnover is low: goods that come and go rarely do not justify equipment built to move. It is also wrong if the goods are too uneven — badly built pallets, differing heights, loose film, boxes hanging over the edge — because the cart needs a stable load unit, and in the cold that shows up more, not less. If the chamber runs colder than −25 °C the shuttle simply does not apply and the stacker crane is the machine to look at. And if the chamber is about to be redesigned or extended, layout comes first: automating on top of a plan that is going to change is the most expensive way to get it wrong. Process first; equipment afterwards, and only if volume sustains it.

Frequently asked questions

How cold can a shuttle robot work?

Down to −25 °C. If your chamber runs colder, the right machine is the pallet stacker crane, which goes down to −30 °C. The measurement that settles the system is the real working temperature, taken at the coldest point and at the worst moment of the cycle, not the nominal figure shown on the control panel.

What is done about condensation and ice?

They are handled by design, not by corrective maintenance. You settle the points where the load crosses from cold to ambient, the airlocks or curtains separating the zones, the dwell times on each side and the defrost routines. Components and lubricants are the ones formulated for low temperature.

How much energy does automating the chamber save?

It depends on your chamber, and we do not publish a loose figure because it would lead to a bad decision. The mechanism is clear enough: an automated system opens fewer doors and for less time, so less warm, humid air gets in. The calculation is made during the survey, with your own movements per hour.

How long does installing a cold store system take?

Automated systems take 3 to 4 months from the purchase order, and in a chamber you add coordination with the refrigeration contractor and the definition of airlocks. Before deciding you receive the survey, the layout and the technical sheet calculated for your own chamber.

Further reading

Other systems

Before quoting, measure the real temperature of the chamber

The survey settles working temperature, zone crossings, clear height and floor condition, and with that it is clear whether a shuttle or a stacker crane applies. Then come the layout, the technical sheet and the quotation.