Food industry growth drives demand for cold storage

Rising demand from the food industry is making cold storage a hot growth area, with the global volume of temperature-controlled warehousing space spiking nearly 8 percent over the past year, a trade group study shows.

The worldwide volume of cold storage space operated by members of the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW) now totals 4.73 billion cubic feet—a 7.78-percent increase from May 2014—representing growth in both the industry segment overall and in the organization's membership ranks, the group said.

More than half (2.81 billion cubic feet) of that space is managed by members of the group's North American Top 25, as measured in millions of cubic feet. The Top 25 includes such giants as Americold Logistics (908), Lineage Logistics (600), United States Cold Storage Inc. (234), Preferred Freezer Services (213), and VersaCold Logistics Services (119).

Rounding out the top 10—again ranked by millions of cubic feet—were Interstate Warehousing Inc. (82 million cubic feet), Nordic Logistics and Warehousing LLC (70), Cloverleaf Cold Storage Co. (65), Burris Logistics (62), and Henningsen Cold Storage Co. (54).

Trailing far behind in square footage are the group's European Top 25, which total 585.00 million cubic feet, and Latin American Top 25, which collectively operate 234.23 million cubic feet. In all, IARW represents 1,184 temperature-controlled facilities across 60 countries. Get the complete lists here.