Cool Cargo News

Ports, carriers, and cold storage providers are committed to ongoing investments, including infrastructure, equipment, technology, and personnel.

Container carriers have made steady gains in the global reefer market, but conventional reefer carriers find success through specialty services.

A trial shipment completed last week between North Europe and the East Coast of North America is a sign of digitalization’s potential.

The largest pain point yet to resolve in refrigerated shipping is the lack of data and transparency in managing the end-to-end cold chain, the former head of Maersk Line's reefer business says.

Central American producers to expand their markets by extending the shelf lives of perishable shipments.

The Port of Philadelphia is taking aim at discretionary cargo moving through northeastern competitors.

Eimskip’s acquisition spree continued this week with the purchase of a Belgian refrigerated freight forwarder.

Union Pacific Railroad will gain control of assets throughout the United States as a result of its deal with Railex.

UPS’s acquisition of Marken, a third-party logistics provider specializing in health care, will bolster UPS’s pharmaceutical logistics services.

Star Reefers sank into the red in the third quarter as the Norwegian refrigerated shipping line faced intense pressure from container lines.

Seatrade's order underscores the strength of the reefer market.

Eimskip’s acquisition spree continues with the purchase of a Netherlands-based forwarder.

The world’s largest trading center for plants and flowers is experimenting with refrigerated ocean containers.

Transporting food, pharmaceuticals, and other temperature-controlled products requires compliance with increasingly stringent regulations to assure consumer safety. At the same time, superior cold chain practices are also important for maintaining the quality of products and maximizing shelf life.

Thermal blankets not only add a very important layer of security during multiple hand-offs along the cold chain, but also expand transportation options, including the increased use of rail.

The refrigerated trade is a lone bright spot in a global liner shipping industry that is struggling to find profitability.

SeaLand announced Monday it has added the Port of Hueneme, California, to its weekly west coast Central America service.

What happens at the farm level is monitored carefully for the potential impact that will manifest further down the supply chain.

Although advancements in equipment, refrigeration systems, and software and technology help to mitigate risks, a dynamic global cold chain in perpetual flux means there are always new challenges to confront.

Refrigerated containers will remain one of the few relatively bright spots for struggling ocean carriers.

Singapore holds the strongest potential for U.S. refrigerated exports in a global market ripe for growth, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration’s recently released “2016 Cold Chain Top Markets Report.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has refocused a rule on transportation practices that could pose a threat to food safety, bringing the focus back to risk.

Container lines’ latest investments in their reefer business range from purchasing new equipment and implementing tracking, refrigeration and controlled atmosphere technology to introducing new routes and services.

Innovation in the cold chain industry, especially real-time tracking and tracing, lags other industries, a logistics director says.

Maersk Line employs remote container management to check the status of refrigerated containers.

Canadian freight operator Manitoulin Global Forwarding added temperature-controlled trucking to its portfolio.

Trucking giant Transport Corporation of India is moving into the cold chain logistics.

CMA CGM has introduced a new container to corner the live lobster market.

A local cold-storage provider near the Port of Oakland has decided to expand after seeing the results of the port's efforts to improve the movement of refrigerated products between the port and its warehouses.

A strong surge in dedicated trucking business helped balance falling fuel surcharges for Marten Transport in the first quarter. The trucker bucked trends and increased revenue.

Snowman Logistics Ltd., India’s leading cold chain logistics solutions provider, is ramping up its operations to meet expected growth in reefer cargo shipments.

During the 16th annual TPM Conference here, executives participating in the Cool Cargoes’ “Refrigerated Roundtable” session revealed that quality service and equipment are paramount to shippers of refrigerated cargo.

Despite a weakened global ocean shipping market, carriers continue to invest in the refrigerated sector. Maersk Line, which boasts the largest containerized reefer fleet with 20 percent of the global market, purchased 30,000 additional units in 2015 alone, and its competitors are making sizable investments of their own.

Rail logistics providers in North America are moving deeper into the perishables market with new services aimed at shippers looking for dependable and cost-effective transportation options, particularly for long-haul moves.

Big Pharma is getting even bigger, and cold chain support, including packaging, is all the more critical as the industry grows from an estimated global worth of $300 billion currently to $400 billion by 2020, according to the World Health Organization.

Dole’s deployment of the Dole Pacific on regular service between California and Latin America is the latest sign of how refrigerated ship operators are turning increasingly to container ships from traditional break bulk vessels.

Maersk Line had added a new service from Latin America to Europe and a new call on an existing service in the trade lane in an effort to tap one of the areas where container lines can still gain steadily profitable business: reefer cargo.

Jawaharal Nehru Port Trust, India’s biggest container handler, last week more than doubled its refrigerated cargo-handling capacity when it opened a new reefer site in the harbor.

New Orleans Cold Storage has more than doubled the size of its facility near Charleston, South Carolina, with an 81,000-square-foot expansion that more than doubles its blast-freezing capacity.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services said it will launch a seasonal Black Sea reefer service between Israel, Egypt and Russia earlier than planned in response to market demand.