Cool Cargo News

Despite significant injections of reefer capacity in early 2025, US cold chain stakeholders say they continue to face equipment scarcity issues.

The Global Cold Chain Alliance urged European leaders to recognize the importance of investment in logistics for the resilience of Europe’s food supply chain.

Lineage will acquire four existing warehouses in the US from Tyson and develop two other next-generation facilities where the food conglomerate will be the anchor tenant.

The largest cold chain storage company in the world is looking to maintain momentum through targeted acquisitions and diverse portfolio development, its co-founder told TPM25.

The vessel, carrying 1,353 containers of Chilean cherries to China, suffered a main engine failure in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 13, 17 days into what was supposed to be a 24-day voyage.

The Geneva-based carrier said a network of 210,000 reefer containers and more than 500 vessels are already equipped with its new iReefer monitoring system.

The planned development in Eastern Canada marks the latest stage in a nearly two-year-old partnership between the company and the Class I railroad.

The question is not whether the market will be strong in the first quarter, but rather how high rates will climb, writes analyst Richard Bright.

The end of a regulation that limited import house locations will allow more flexibility for warehousing options, making the cold chain network more efficient for food importers.

The two companies, already building a temperature-controlled warehouse at the site of CPKC’s intermodal terminal in Kansas City, Missouri, are looking to replicate that business model south of the border.

Refrigerated container shippers using US East and Gulf coast ports are tapping some non-unionized terminals, but they fear produce stuck on ships and in ports will spoil, and equipment will become scarcer if the strike lasts longer than a week.

Container lines are contracting directly with perishables shippers, undercutting volume brokers, but the specialized reefer fleet is hanging on to niche markets as a handful of ports pivot toward dockside cold storage.

Seasonal demand for reefer containers on the north-south trade lane, combined with a surge in Brazilian beef exports, could lead to equipment scarcity by the year’s end, market watchers say.

A new warehouse due to open early next year in Portland for frozen and ambient-temperature cargoes could cut transportation costs for shippers now using out-of-state storage and ports.

The certification that Houston can handle cargoes treated for pests while in transit means more fresh produce such as grapes and berries can move quickly through the port.

While Cool is “cash rich,” it is under pressure to fill the newbuild capacity it already has as well as what is scheduled to be delivered, writes analyst Richard Bright.

Still, insurers said the difficulties have yet to materialize in a noticeable rise in claims for spoiled cold chain or perishable products.

Candor Expedite’s new service is designed to let perishables shippers use lower-cost freight modes and reduce product spoilage.

A cross-border temperature-controlled truckload and LTL service will connect key facilities in the company’s North American cold chain distribution network.

The facility sets up the Port of Wilmington to become a key point of entry for importers of refrigerated blueberries, grapes, apples, pears, citrus and a broad variety of organics.

The phased reduction in the number of transits coincides with peak banana exports from Ecuador and the start of the deciduous fruit season in the southern hemisphere.

The direct service that kicks off at the end of the month will add further options to transport apparel, textiles, poultry, pork and agricultural products between Central America and the US East Coast.

The new north-south service will begin next week with trial runs transporting perishable goods out of Latin America to Chicago.

The Benelux-based reefer owner/operator says its fast, dedicated and direct model trumps the transshipments, transit times and indirect costs of the major carriers.

Savannah attracted the new service due to its growing third-party logistics network and proximity to East Coast and Midwest markets, allowing for quicker and fresher imports.

Investors aren’t lining up to sink money into aging facilities, given that warehouses built in the last 20 to 40 years require nearly 50% more energy consumption and double the maintenance costs than newbuilds.

The CMA CGM subsidiary’s latest acquisition will significantly increase its presence in South Asia that is growing in importance as supply chain routes shift across the region.

If the reefer mode can tough out the rest of 2023, next year should be better for operators largely because there will be more cargo, and therefore demand will be stronger, writes analyst Richard Bright.

Refrigerated warehousing construction is “exploding” in the US Southeast, as one port executive put it, thanks to a growing population and increased demand for imported produce and other food products.

Refrigerated container trade was muted in 2022 due to high costs and poor service, but ocean carriers appear keen to serve those markets in 2023 now that dry cargo rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels.

The specialized reefer fleet has proven to be remarkably resilient in the face of various challenges, but now it must deal with the latest threat in the form of new IMO environmental regulations.

The Port of Savannah says plans for additional reefer rack capacity will add to its market share for cold chain imports coming into the US Southeast and Gulf Coast.

The strong likelihood of continued growth in the reefer trade creates questions about supply meeting demand given recent world events and the potential upstream production dependencies linked to raw material sourcing.

Lineage Logistics is acquiring MTC Logistics, a cold storage operator with warehouses at the ports of Baltimore, Wilmington, Delaware, and Mobile.

Shypple has acquired a perishables competitor that it says will expand its geographic presence in Latin America and Asia, while giving it a leg up on other digital forwarders.

Shippers are increasingly able to gain visibility into in-transit freight, even for time- and/or temperature--sensitive cargo being carried in specialized refrigerated containers, courtesy of new technology.

Sustained strong import volumes from Asia and tight capacity have forced perishable food importers and exporters to compete with dry goods shippers for space and equipment.

US seafood exporters are among the hardest hit by stricter COVID-19 testing requirements in China that some shippers have decried as non-tariff trade barriers.

There’s debate about how much of a knock-on effect COVID-19 vaccine distribution could have on other types of cargoes, but US shippers are cautioned to plan for some disruption.

The pandemic has increased food insecurity in many countries, while some buyers ordering more inventory to hedge against potential supply chain disruptions and bottlenecks.