PRW space still growing in the USA despite signs of economic slowdown: taller buildings allow denser racking to maximize usable space and minimize energy costs. Some operators are getting into alternative refrigerants. Scattered responses to annual QFFI/IARW survey show inventories up, but turnover remains about the same.

Enabling each new facility to provide PDQ Logistics[TM] freight consolidation and regional distribution services is the company's TMS (Transportation Management System). This comprehensive logistics program supports cartier relationship management, appointment scheduling, load tendering and efficient building, analysis and network modeling.

Besides building new distribution centers in Fresno, California; Lake City, Florida; Warsaw, North Carolina; and Bethlehem and Hazleton, Pennsylvania, USCS has acquired three facilities formerly operated as Cassco in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Marshville, North Carolina.

Richmond Cold Storage Company (RCS), Richmond, Virginia, completed expansion of its Richmond facility which offers blast freezing, 184,000 square feet of frozen and refrigerated storage, CSX rail service, a cross dock, and an RFID lab. It is USDA-approved for export and is Russian-certified for pork and poultry.

Hillsboro, Oregon-based Henningsen Cold Storage is building a 5.3-million-cubic-foot, logistics center in the Portland suburb of Gresham that is expected to open this summer. The company is building the 144,000-square-foot facility on two adjoining lots. The 16,000 pallet position facility will complement rather than replace an existing Portland operation that opened in 1996.

Final approval has come from the Louisiana State Bond Commission for $27.5 million for wharf improvements on the Mississippi River to accommodate New Orleans Cold Storage (NOCS), a major poultry exporter. NOCS is moving from an Industrial Canal site because the large vessels it uses can no longer get through the Gulf outlet--a canal nobody wants to redredge because it is thought to have channeled the Hurricane Katrina surge that nearly destroyed the city.

Hanson Logistics, St. Joseph, Michigan, which opened a new consolidation center in Chicago last year, is expanding its value-added services by offering clients top-tier Network Optimization through an agreement with Supply Chain Optimizers, Buffalo, New York, and Toronto, Ontario.

"Transportation costs account for 60% of every logistics dollar and fuel costs are driving that figure even higher," said Andrew Janson, executive vice president of Business Development. "Network optimization is critical. "We bring both high-level vision and front line experience. Their team is highly regarded in the frozen food industry, and we look forward to giving our customers access to their solutions."

Hanson has also added more muscle to the company's growing transportation service with the recent addition of four 2008 Kenworth 800 linehaul tractors. The new trucks, featuring Aerocab sleepers, let Hanson respond quickly to customer requests for regional moves using company equipment.

"Safe, on-time delivery is critical regardless of the carrier," said Janson, "Our fleet expansion, with a longer reach, gives our customers the added security of knowing their refrigerated warehouse provider also has transportation assets in place to handle emergency or unusual load requirements."

More than half of the warehouse operators responding to the QFFI-IARW survey contract out some or all of their trucking. But a number of operations, including even small ones with one to five locations, provide at least some of their own trucks--perhaps to ensure timely deliveries to particular customers. Larger operators are striving to make better use of their fleets.

AmeriCold Logistics, Atlanta, Georgia, expanded its refrigerated network last fall with the debut of LTL Cooler Consolidation programs that provide scheduled less-than-truckload service to more than 8,000 zip codes nationwide.

"While we've historically been a front runner in providing less than truckload consolidation services on a regional and national basis, this program positions us to provide specialized cooler LTL delivery services across the country," said Greg Bryan, senior vice president of the company's Transportation Group. "We believe our cooler programs will effectively put us in a leadership position in the industry and provide our customers with consistent deliveries of small lot products being demanded by retailers today."

Most of the companies returning the QFFI-IARW survey have no more than five warehouses, and thus even a weighted response may not reflect a general industry pattern. Still, it has to be significant that the same sample that reported frozen food inventories generally up reported turnover remaining pretty much the same.

In its most recent report on cold storage holdings, the USDA showed inventories generally up; only in frozen vegetables was there a slight decrease at 2.221 billion pounds for December 2007 compared to 2.225 billion a year earlier. Holdings of frozen fruit were substantially higher at 1.240 billion versus 1.137 billion; likewise juice concentrates at 1.08 billion versus 989 million, and potatoes at 1.012 billion versus 955 million.

In materials handling purchasing plans, standard racks are favored, although most operators responding to the survey aren't planning to buy racks at all. Lift trucks, as usual, are in demand, but not as strongly as last year. Only one company mentioned double as opposed to single-deep racks. Automatic doors are on more purchasing plans than any others, with manual and plastic strip curtains virtually tied for second. There was little expressed interest in mechanical or air curtain doors.

New US Cold Storage Unit in Florida: Strategic Location, CO2 Refrigeration

United States Cold Storage (USCS), Voorhees, New Jersey, USA, has opened a new distribution center in Lake City, Florida, near Interstates 75 and 10. The 5.2 million cubic-foot facility is at the crossroads that serve all the major metropolitan areas of the Southeast.

USCS is also working on Phase Three expansion of its Tulare-North Distribution Center in California, with an anticipated start-up of operations in early August. It already operates two warehousing and distribution centers in Tulare, Tulare-North and Tulare-South, within a quarter mile of each other.

The expansion of Tulare-North will bring the combined capacity to about 21 million cubic feet with 80,000 fully racked pallet positions, making it the biggest operation under one management team in the company's nationwide network. The Lake City facility, meanwhile, will serve other metropolitan centers beyond Florida--among them Atlanta, Georgia, and Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama.

"Our full service operation in Lake City provides a strategically attractive option for food manufacturers, retailers and distributors who want to position themselves for effective distribution throughout the southeastern states," explained Greg Minnich, general manager of the operation. "We provide a state-of-the-art facility, proprietary information systems and a team committed to meet customers' needs, making this an ideal location to serve the region."

Lake City will offer a complete menu of PRW services. The facility is designed for high-volume distribution, including 18,000 variable-height racked pallet positions at temperatures ranging from -20[degrees] F to +55[degrees] F, and supported by 18 truck dock doors and super-wide (60-foot) temperature controlled loading docks. Service features include an advanced AS400 warehouse management system with radio frequency (RF) bar code scanning, and eUSCOLD[R] service which provides 24/7 online access to real-time account data.

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Equipped with the latest in food safety and security systems, customized handling includes freezing and product tempering, slip sheeting, cross docking, order case picking, CSX rail service, USDA inspection areas and US Customs bonded. USCS's PDQ Logistics and Transportation Management Systems will support customers' southeast region distribution needs through an LTL freight consolidation program, direct-to-store deliveries, and cost-saving logistics analysis tools.

In addition to up-to-date services and facility design and modern construction, USCS is pioneering a new CO2 cascade refrigeration technology that improves operating efficiency and reduces impact on the environment. This next generation refrigeration system builds on current food safety and emissions standards by better utilizing energy and further minimizing contamination risk. It is in use in the company's newest facilities in California, Pennsylvania and Florida.