Hello, and welcome to the coolest community in freight! Here you’ll find the latest information on warehouse news, tech developments and all things reefer madness-related. I’m your controller of the thermostat, Mary O’Connell. Thanks for having me!
All thawed out
What’s that in the sky? A bird, a plane, a cold storage facility? In Halton Hills, Ontario, there is a towering collection of blue racks being set up that will someday serve as a cold storage facility. Across Lake Ontario from the U.S., Conestoga’s new Canadian facility is set to become one of the largest cold storage facilities in the world. The anticipated capacity is 60 million cubic feet and the facility should be up and running by the end of 2024.
A Daily Commercial News article says, “The structure is slab-on-grade and will have a unique frost protection system underneath the concrete foundation. The heat produced from the refrigeration system will be captured and used for frost protection.”
Building up instead of out has allowed Conestoga to build a stronger and more sustainable structure that makes the building more energy efficient. The new building will be a “lights off” facility, meaning the lights are automatically turned off in areas where they are not in use.
Temperature checks
Unilever really said better cold chain for all. The company has made patents available to other ice cream manufacturers for freezers that go to minus 12 degrees Celsius, compared to the industry standard of minus 18 C. The goal for making these patents freely available is to have more energy-efficient freezer cabinets used. By reducing temperatures to minus 12 C, there is a 25% reduction in energy consumption, meaning it’s cheaper to run the freezers.
Andy Sztehlo, chief R&D officer for ice cream at Unilever, said in a news release, “By granting a free non-exclusive license to these 12 reformulation patents, we hope our peers and partners from across the ice cream sector will benefit and work to tackle emissions across the industry. We believe through collaboration, we can reduce the cold chain’s impact on the environment, whilst continuing to deliver the great quality ice cream products our consumers love.”
Food and drugs
Vegan options in the freezer section are getting bigger and better. Daring, a plant-based chicken company, is jumping into the frozen food scene with its new frozen entrees. Daring specializes in meals that have simple and few ingredients when it comes to chicken substitutes. The new meals are fully plant-based and gluten-free, and each meal contains about 16 grams of protein. The different types of meals are a fried rice plant chicken bowl, a fajita plant chicken bowl, teriyaki plant chicken bowl, harvest plant chicken bowl and penne primavera bowl.
Daring’s news release states, “Daring’s revolutionary approach incorporates a short list of simple ingredients (only 6 in their Original Plant Chicken Pieces to be exact), providing a better-for-you alternative.”
Daring’s plant chicken pieces and wings and its newest frozen entree bowls can be found nationwide in stores, including Sprouts Farmers Market, Publix and Target.
Cold chain lanes
This week’s SONAR market is Seattle. Capacity is tightening in Seattle as reefer outbound tender volumes and reefer outbound tender rejections are on the rise. Reefer outbound volumes are up 12.64% week over week (w/w), whereas reefer outbound tender volumes are up 2,040 basis points w/w. With reefer outbound tender reject rates at 28.31%, spot rates are highly inflated and are continuing to rise.
Is SONAR for you? Check it out with a demo!
Shelf life
Frozen or Fresh: Which Turkey Should You Buy?
No Longer Schwan’s, Yelloh Eliminates Trademark Truck Delivery In Wyoming, West
Lineage Expands its European Footprint with New State-Of-The-Art Facility in France
China will dominate solar supply chain for years
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
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