Port of Virginia facilities point the way to and from major United States markets: long a popular call for trans-Atlantic container ships unloading East Coast-destined cargo and picking up outbound goods, in recent years China has topped the TEU charts on both imports and exports. Belgium ranks second as an export destination.

"A great deal of work has been invested in the reorganization and integration of operating units," Gudnason said. "These activities have meant a short-term increase in costs. All these restructuring activities are intended to lead to better results in 2008. We intend to continue our restructuring efforts within the company as well as the integration of operating units."

"We see the year 2008 as a new beginning in the history of Eimskip, giving rise to a stable and well-run company. Eimskip, now that it has divested itself of air carrier operations, can focus on shipping and warehousing operations, a field in which the company has become a global leader," he summed up. "The operations of the company are well distributed between our principal markets--North Atlantic and Iceland, North Ainerica, Europe, the Baltic States, and Russia and Asia."

Richmond Cold Storage on the Grow: Expands One Unit, Will Run Another

Richmond Cold Storage Company (RCS) has completed expansion of its hometown Richmond, Virginia warehouse, and taken on management of a new distribution center for poultry producer Wayne Farms LLC in Decatur, Alabama.

Situated just off the Interstate 95 North-South corridor, the Richmond warehouse, first opened in 1991, offers blast freezing, frozen and refrigerated storage, rail service, and is equipped with an RFID lab. The expanded premises consist of 184,000 square feet of temperature controlled warehouse space, ranging from -20[degrees]F for ice cream up to +40[degrees]F.

The facility is located on the CSX rail line and is equipped to cross dock product. It is USDA-approved for export, and is Russian-certified for pork and poultry. Customers also have 24/7 access to their inventory and information through RCS ColdTrax.

"RCS Richmond provides customers with efficient distribution and logistical services in the mid-Atlantic area," said Scott Chapman, senior vice president of sales and marketing. "It is close to many grocery and foodservice distribution centers."

The Wayne Farms distribution center is under construction and scheduled to open late this summer. It encompasses approximately 135,000 square feet of temperature controlled warehouse space, and will support the two Wayne Farms processing plants also in Decatur.

Wayne Farms is the fourth-largest vertically integrated poultry producer in the United States, with annual sales exceeding $1 billion. A subsidiary of ContiGroup Companies, Inc., it owns and operates 13 fresh and further-processing facilities throughout the Southeast, produces more than a billion pounds of poultry products each year.

Yucaipa Companies Takes AmeriCold, Buying Out Vornado, Morgan Stanley

Los Angeles-based Yucaipa Companies is now the sole owner of AmeriCold Realty Trust, Atlanta, Georgia, which operates 90 refrigerated warehouses in the United States, having bought out the interests of both Vornado Realty Trust and Morgan Stanley Real Estate.

Vornado, which held a 47.6% stake in Americold at the end of 2007, got $220 million for its share, a gain of about $110 million. The sale price was based on a $1.52 billion valuation before debt and other obligations. Morgan Stanley didn't say what it got for its 31.7% share. Yucaipa already owned the remaining 20.7%.

The deal is the culmination of a series of transactions that began a decade ago in 1997, when Paramus, New Jersey-based Vornado and Crescent Real Estate Equities of Fort Worth, Texas, formed a joint venture called AmeriCold Realty that acquired and consolidated four independent refrigerated warehouse companies.

Back then, real estate investment trusts (REITs) weren't allowed by law to own non-real estate assets or conduct non-real estate operations. The companies purchased by AmeriCold Realty ran trucking lines, owned refrigeration trucks and carried fresh food.

To remain in compliance with the law, AmeriCold Realty sold its non-real estate assets to AmeriCold Logistics, an entity established to provide temperature controlled distribution services using the warehouse network leased from and owned by AmeriCold Realty. In turn, Voruado and Crescent bought the logistics company and leased the space.

Congress modernized the REIT laws in 2004 and allowed REITs to own operating companies. At that time AmeriCold Realty bought AmeriCold Logistics back and created a parent/subsidiary relationship that replaced the landlord/tenant relationship.

At the same time, Yucaipa bought its 20.7% interest in the combined AmeriCold realty and logistics companies. The Vornado and Crescent joint venture retained a 79.3% share. In May of last year, Morgan Stanley Real Estate acquired Crescent, paying $6.5 billion. With Crescent came Crescent's share of the AmeriCold joint venture.

Rotterdam Banks on New Fruit Port; Kloosterboer Takes 50% of Seabrex

Refrigerated warehouse and stevedore operator Kloosterboer has taken a 50% interest in Seabrex, another stevedore company, with a view to becoming the pivot of a new Fruitport at Rotterdam, the Netherlands, supplemented with related commercial activity.

Fruit handling is presently concentrated in the Fruitport in the Merwehaven area on the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas River. A million tons of fruit are handled there annually. Rotterdam, together with Antwerp, is regarded as the most important fruit port in Northern Europe.

Fruit is increasingly arriving in the port in containers, but the area's capacity to cope is limited. Facilities upgrades call for heavy investment and, consequently, continuity, but the Merwehaven area is unable to accommodate expansion, and in fact is slated for urban redevelopment for other purposes.

A new location on the south bank would allow for more container handling, the space could be used more intensively and there would be more opportunity for transit transport using coasters (shortsea), inland shipping and rail. This would improve the cluster's competitive edge, as well as the efficiency of the transport. The number of truck miles would fall sharply anyway, due to the shorter distance to the main destination, a fruit and vegetable distribution center.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority has signed a letter of intent with Seabrex and Kloosterboer as the basis for the continuity of the fruit cluster in terms of investment, logistical innovation and more long-term commercial contracts. It hopes to reach agreement on the new location this year.

By JOHN M. SAULNIER

QFFI Chief Editor & Publisher