Hello, and welcome to the coolest community in freight!
This year’s Future of Freight Festival takes place Nov. 19-21 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But it’s not your average conference. Sure, there are wonderful speakers and fireside chats. But the real fun stuff starts after that. F3 is set up with half-days of speakers and amazing content. The other half we take over downtown Chattanooga, and there are events, networking, and a lot of fun had by all. This year, subscribers of Running on Ice get a promo code exclusive to us! You can register with this link or use the code F3ROI24 at checkout.
All thawed out
Gel packs are part of the backbone of the cold chain. Its importance cannot be overstated, which is why Cryopak has taken an interest. Cryopak, a specialist in design and development of cold chain packaging, has acquired the Gel-Pak manufacturing segment of Garden State Cold Storage. The deal will close in late summer, and Cryopak is expected to add Garden State’s facility in Carteret, New Jersey.
This acquisition now allows Cryopak to both produce Gel-Paks and handle the freezing operations, which will in turn lower costs, increase service levels, and shorten lead times. The convenience of having everything in one place and under one ownership is paramount as operations look to improve and boost efficiency.
According to a news release: “The investment is the second acquisition in the past eight months [for Cryopak]. The company also recently acquired retail [gel-pack] manufacturer Icy Cools, whose portfolio of more than 20 freezing products substantially enhanced Cryopak’s retail product line. Icy Cools was incorporated into an existing Cryopak location at Edison, NJ.”
Temperature checks
Dothan, Alabama, has a new resident in the form of Vertical Cold Storage. The Kansas City-based cold storage company has entered into a purchase agreement for a frozen distribution center from Dothan Warehouse. This is the 10th facility in Vertical’s network.
Quoted in a Meat + Poultry article was West Hutchinson, president and chief executive officer of Vertical Cold Storage: “This latest acquisition shows our commitment to the protein industry and to building a nationwide network of high-performance frozen and refrigerated warehouses. We look forward to supporting the many great processors and retailers in the region, and to welcoming the Dothan team members on board.”
The Dothan facility is more than 109,000 square feet with 10 dock doors, can hold a wide variety of frozen foods, and has high-capacity blast freezing, export services, case picking, and cross-docking capabilities.
Food and drug
The home of America’s favorite frozen foods is getting some massive improvements to its grocery supply chain. Walmart is building five new high-tech perishable-goods distribution centers. These new facilities aren’t just to streamline operations, but also to help with career development for workers.
For example, those who previously stacked cases could potentially work in new roles, for example as automation equipment operator, developing their position to become automation control center operator, automation technician or automation area manager.
A Retail Systems article reads:, “The new DCs can store around double the amount of produce as a traditional warehouse and can process twice as many cases of produce per hour. The new DCs will store cases of produce in a temperature-controlled automated storage system. When fulfilling a store order, pallets are built by department, which Walmart says makes them easier to unload at stores.” It added that they are “intelligently layered,” which means more-fragile items are stored on top.
Cold chain lanes
This week’s SONAR market heads out west to Salt Lake City. There must be a run on potatoes, because reefer outbound tender volumes rose 36.13%. The increase in volume is likely not fully the potatoes’ fault, but it is the result of seasonal demand. Historically, the recovery from the Fourth of July holiday is always steep and maintains that level through the end of the summer.
Reefer rejection rates, on the other hand, took a dive following the holiday; it’s down 526 basis points week-over-week for an ROTRI of 4.14%. The drop-off in rejections is great for shippers routing guides because carrier compliance will be some of the best that we’ve seen all summer. On the flip side, though, it leaves a lot to be desired for carriers because rates will once again bottom out.
Is SONAR for you? Check it out with a demo!
Shelf life
Leer Inc. Announces Release of Refrigerated Reach-In Storage Solutions Line
This frozen foods and snacks seller cut prices again but sales are still falling
USDA announced recall of Al Safa frozen chicken kebabs, patties
Dollar Tree rotacart deliveries reach 600 stores
VIPV in refrigerated trucks can ‘easily’ offset energy demand it creates and meet chiller demand
Wanna chat in the cooler? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at moconnell@freightwaves.com.
See you on the internet.
Mary
If this newsletter was forwarded to you, you must be pretty chill. Join the coolest community in freight and subscribe for more at freightwaves.com/subscribe.
