Cool Cargo News

Dole has suspended a previously announced $200 million share buyback program in order to mitigate losses from its strawberry business and revamp its fleet of container ships, Fox Business reports.

Maersk Line is rolling out a new system designed to speed up and simplify containerized food product shipments.

Americold has appointed Jeff Hogarth as senior vice president of Asia-Pacific.

The global market for road transportation refrigeration equipment is expected to be worth $8.8 billion by 2018, driven by technology innovations in energy efficiency refrigeration and the increasing consumption of frozen and chilled foods.

The recession might finally be over for the refrigerated warehouse industry. Operators in the U.S. and Canada expect revenue to grow more than 4 percent in 2013, according to a recent survey by the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses.

DB Schenker Logistics in Finland has been selected by Oy Roberts Ab, a Finnish food production company, for the storage and distribution of its food products.

Container carriers began the year with seemingly unshakeable resolve to increase rates on refrigerated cargoes, saying the prices were far below what carriers need to earn a return on their sizable investments. Now rates seem to be in a freefall.

After handwringing, a major lobbying effort and consternation on the Hill, Congress passed $55 million in new funds to allow U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors to stay on the job. And Southern California’s Port Hueneme got one of the rare budget reprieves that allowed the produce and auto port to continue normal operations.

Operators in the perishables sector of the global air cargo market are seeing gains while volume in other sectors has declined.

Cold Train is expanding its express refrigerated intermodal service from Portland, Ore., to complement its existing expedited service out of Quincy, Wash.

Lineage Logistics has begun operation of two cold storage facilities in Arlington and Murfreesboro, Tenn., on behalf of Rich Products.

EuroFruitPorts, the refrigerated fruit terminal that recently opened in Belgium’s Port of Antwerp, has opened its cold storage facilities.

Marten Transport reported its profit in the first quarter of 2013 was $7.2 million, a jump of 32.2 percent compared with $5.4 million in the first quarter of 2012 and the 12th consecutive year-over-year increase in quarterly net income.

Australian meat exporters are set to benefit from China’s decision this week to authorize 28 cold store facilities and four red meat plants in the nation, as the first step in a system-wide approach to approval of meat storage facilities...

Lineage Logistics has acquired the assets of Seattle Cold Storage and its facilities located in the Port of Tacoma and Algona, Wash. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

PTA Holdings, through its subsidiary Nortford, has begun serving the produce industry by transporting perishable food products from southern U.S. markets into various locations in the Midwest.

The attempt to privatize the Port of Wilmington, Del., has foundered on the rocks of local port business and labor opposition.

The volatile U.S. refrigerated freight trade will make a comeback in 2013 after declining in 2012, “a modest comeback but still a comeback,” Journal of Commerce Economist Mario O. Moreno told the 13th annual TPM Conference.

Maersk Line is having mixed results in its attempt to raise reefer container rates by $1,500, with actual price gains varying by commodity and lane, according to at least one ocean shipping analyst. But there is little doubt about the overall direction of refrigerated freight pricing.

Growth in refrigerated rail traffic and equipment serves as a strong signal that U.S. railroads are snatching back business some 60 years after the creation of the interstate highway system helped trucking take command of the temperature-controlled market.

Fresh fruit shipments, such as cherries and blueberries, to Asia no longer go automatically by air, thanks to improved cold chain capabilities in the maritime industry.

A lackluster outlook for the U.S. trucking industry hasn’t stopped traditional dry van operations from expanding into refrigerated business.

U.S. poultry exporters face a litany of challenges this year: Record feed grain prices; import quotas and an ever-shifting regulatory regime in Russia; and tariffs and countervailing duties totaling 104 percent in China.

Union Pacific Railroad is receiving the first of 225 72-foot boxcars it ordered from Greenbrier Industries.

A new report from logistics security services provider FreightWatch International shows the total number of cargo thefts in the United States last year was close to the record set in 2011 — and the number of stolen meat shipments continued to climb.

The Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries, an industry group of U.S. commercial shrimp fishermen, asked two government entities to impose import sanctions on shrimp imports from seven countries — Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam — arguing they give billions of dollars in subsidies to their domestic industries each year.

Private equity company Eberhart Capital has agreed to acquire Omaha, Neb.-based refrigerated truckload carrier Poling Transportation, now Poling Express, in a stock and cash transaction.

Crowley Maritime and Customized Brokers, the company’s Miami-based customs brokerage company, have opened a new cold storage warehouse facility in Miami.

Michigan-based Hanson Logistics, which provides temperature-controlled supply chain services, has promoted Jack White to the position of vice president and CFO.

German carrier Hapag-Lloyd will increase rates on its trade between North Europe, including the U.K., and West Africa, effective Feb. 1.

Maersk Line will implement a general rate increase on its New Zealand to Australia trade lane, effective Feb. 1.

Celadon Trucking Services has agreed to acquire Rock Leasing and Kelly Logistics.

Fast food chain Jack in the Box is moving more of its freight via 53-foot containers on intermodal trains.

Aprile Cool Solutions, Aprile’s SpA refrigerated container division, has merged with Easyfresh, a Valencia, Spain-based logistics company specializing in temperature controlled cargo, effective Jan. 1.

Hapag-Lloyd is advising customers to avoid delivering reefer exports to inland locations...

Roadrunner Transportation Systems has acquired Direct Connection Transportation...