Cool Cargoes

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.

<p>Canadian freight operator Manitoulin Global Forwarding added temperature-controlled trucking to its portfolio.</p>

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.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services is expanding its refrigerated container fleet by 1,900 forty-foot containers to meet growing demand for equipment that can provide shippers real-time updates of temperature and gas levels within the equipment.

The top 100 cold chain logistics players in China account for just 0.4 percent of the market, with the highly fragmented nature of the supply chain struggling to keep up with rapidly rising demand.

Plummeting fuel surcharges took a bite out of the refrigerated transporter's total revenue, but strong dedicated and brokerage business helped build underlying profits, shore up weaker truckload unit in the third quarter.

The transition from cold warehouse or cold carrier to third-party logistics services provider is fairly mature. But that’s not to suggest it’s stopped. A thriving industry continues to evolve, and that’s very much the case with the cold chain sector.

Diogo Lobo, vice president of international logistics at Lineage Logistics, recently shared his perspective on where the company and cold chain logistics industry is heading.

In the hyper-competitive world of refrigerated transportation, ocean carriers are always on the lookout for new solutions to control the atmosphere inside their containers while satisfying their drive for energy efficiency and improved environmental sustainability.

Major container carriers such as Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co., United Arab Shipping Co., Hamburg Sud and Hapag-Lloyd are among those making significant investments in their reefer business to help offset slower growth in other business areas.

Pharmaceutical companies have increased their oceangoing share of shipments. Ocean carriers and cold chain service providers are happy for the business, but the moves have also creased concerns over insurance and liability.

Growth in consumption of fruits, vegetables, meat and fish in emerging and newly industrialized countries should accelerate in the coming years, creating tailwinds for reefer container and specialized reefer operators.

Nearly a year after labor stoppages at U.S. West Coast ports burned scores of perishables shippers, the industry’s largest advocacy group refuses to relent in its push for greater transparency in how ports are operated and negotiations with unions are conducted.

Shipping Australia Limited is betting the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal will be a boon for the Australian reefer trade, which the country hopes will offset the trade losses sustained after the commodity bust.

Florida’s Port Tampa Bay joins the ranks of other U.S. Southeast ports that will soon be able to handle direct imports of select cold-treated produce from South America, bringing new business to the Sunshine State and cutting logistics costs for produce shippers.

Australia is trying to boost its containerized food exports after a world commodity glut halted a boom in shipments of the nation’s top three export commodities, iron ore, coal, and liquefied natural gas.

Perishables and pharmaceuticals — among the most lucrative segments of the air cargo because of the time-sensitive nature of their delivery — are at the forefront of air carrier plans to bolster revenue.

United Arab Shipping Co. has ordered another 3,500 reefer containers, after ordering 2,000 units from Japan’s Daikin Industries in January.

Canadian National Railway plans to invest C$20 million to expand its cold supply chain capacity to help producers and distributors of chilled and frozen foods increase business in North American and overseas markets.

E-commerce could be improving food safety in China. Cainiao, the logistics affiliate of online retailer Alibaba, plans to build fresh-food distribution centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The three DCs will support cold-chain delivery of fresh food purchased on Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com within 24 hours, with options for delivery on specific dates and times, as well as night delivery.

The world’s largest container carrier — and reefer carrier — Maersk Line is well-versed in the details of shipping temperature-controlled cargoes. William “Bill” Duggan, vice president of North American refrigerated services, recently shared his thoughts on key challenges and opportunities confronting the global reefer market.

Cargo thieves in the U.S. target food shipments above all other cargoes. Although some shipments aren’t particularly high-value, others such as temperature-controlled pharmaceuticals, seafood, beef and alcohol can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And reselling these commodities on the gray market puts consumers at risk.

Tasked with regulating products originating in more than 150 countries, the Food and Drug Administration is becoming more global in its approach rather than U.S.-centric and is boosting its foreign presence.

Refrigerated trucking company Marten Transport increased its profit while adding trucks in the second quarter, as dedicated revenue rose more than 60 percent.

The heat is on for the cold supply chain industry as it prepares for the roll-out of new, more stringent federal regulations this fall. Now an Israeli company may have a solution to at least one of the challenges the industry will face when the Food and Drug Administration hands down its new regulations.