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 the controller of the thermostat, Mary O’Connell. Thanks for having me!
All thawed out
CSafe, the largest provider of a complete range of active and passive temperature-controlled shipping solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, announced the launch of its TracSafe line of real-time data loggers and the newly expanded CSafe Connect customer portal. TracSafe has a bevy of single-use, reusable and real-time tracking devices.
These devices can monitor in real time temperatures as well as location of a shipment. That combined with CSafe’s new customer portal brings everything to one place — everything from placing orders to tracking and managing shipments, loging support tickets all in one portal. CSafe is committed to building one digital cold chain ecosystem that prevents product loss, creates savings and increases delivery speed.
Here we grow again. FlexCold is opening its first South Carolina cold storage facility in Columbia. This will be its second facility in the U.S. The new operations will include a highly modern cold food storage facility with a focus on receiving a substantial amount of imported goods. Operationally, FlexCold will provide import and export services, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration inspections, labeling and repacking, and cross-docking services. This facility is expected to open in late summer 2024.
Quotable moment from South Carolina Ports President and CEO Barbara Melvin: “SC Ports has significantly upgraded its refrigerated capabilities to efficiently handle more frozen and fresh products for the growing Southeast consumer base. FlexCold’s investment will complement these efforts and further enhance the cold chain in South Carolina. This innovative facility will expand the ability to move more frozen products, such as seafood, through the Port of Charleston.”
Temperature checks
Dutch company NewCold is on the way up. NewCold’s 6,000-square-foot Chicago office is too small. It has signed a lease for more than 35,000 square feet in the same building ahead of plans to hire about 125 new employees. The cold storage company develops, owns and operates automated warehouses that serve large food product companies like Conagra and McCain Foods.
The new lease is a good sign, not just for the owner of the building but for all downtown office landlords. The expansion is a break from the recent trend of companies shedding office space and downsizing due to the increase in remote work. New Cold currently has three cold storage warehouses across the country. A majority of its warehouses are in Europe.
Food and drugs
If you have been to the grocery store lately, you might have seen the dreaded buying limitation on a new item: eggs. When you do buy them, you’re paying more as the benchmark for a dozen is at $5.46 compared to $1.70 this time last year.
In February 2021 a massive avian flu outbreak began. Consumers saw the effect with increased turkey prices around Thanksgiving. But it also has done a number on the production of eggs. According to the USDA, the flu has wiped out more than 44 million egg-laying hens, or roughly 4% to 5% of production.
“The flu is the most important factor affecting egg prices,” said Maro Ibarburu, a business analyst at the Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University. “This outbreak, in terms of egg-laying hens, we lost 10 million more egg-laying hens than the last outbreak in 2015.”
Cold chain lanes
Cold temps aren’t the only thing that are up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Outbound tender volume and outbound tender rejections are up too. When outbound tender rejections start to increase, that signals the market is tightening. However, the outbound tender volumes have risen alongside rejections capacity hasn’t been deeply constrained. But spot rates have likely hit their ceiling as outbound tender rejections have started to decline.
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Shelf life
Wabash cuts multiyear trailer supply deal with J.B. Hunt
Still a transportation marvel, Golden Gate Bridge has eventful past
Cold storage company establishing operations in Dorchester Co.
Frozen meal producer gets $9.6 million grant for plant in Cleveland
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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