Logistics industry ramps up cold storage offerings

The logistics industry continues to step up and meet growing demand for cold storage warehouse space, largely in response to sustained growth in e-grocery and pharmaceutical distribution.

This week, industrial management firm Colliers and logistics provider DB Schenker said they are adding cold storage capacity in the Midwest to meet increased demand. Colliers said it will open a cold storage industrial speculative building in Kansas City, Missouri, designed for the food and beverage industry, and DB Schenker said it has added 55,000 square feet of space at its Indianapolis cold storage facility to meet customer demand for vaccine and other pharmaceutical needs. The Colliers space is slated to open in 2022 and the DB Schenker space is operational now.

Colliers said its 167,000 square-foot space will be the first cold storage industrial speculative building in the Kansas City market and will help further position the region as a hub for food and beverage operations.

“The building will be specifically designed to accommodate the unique requirements of cold storage users to capture the demand, primarily tied to the expanding food and beverage industry, due to the rise in online grocery shopping, delivery, increased consumption of frozen/prepared meals, and consumer expectations for quick services” John Stafford, executive vice president of Colliers Kansas City, said in a statement.

The DB Schenker facility adds 5,000 square feet of cold room and 50,000 square feet of controlled temperature space and allows access to the less-congested Indianapolis airport for pharma deliveries. The logistics firm operates its own direct flights between Indianapolis and Luxembourg, cities that serve as major centers of vaccine and pharmaceutical manufacturing activity, according to company leaders. The flights feature dedicated, temperature-controlled capacity.

“As the major airports in the U.S. become more congested, smaller airports like Indianapolis and Luxembourg have become more suitable for moving temperature-controlled healthcare shipments.,” said Benjamin Zervas, head of airfreight management healthcare, Americas, for DB Schenker. “We can move directly from the tarmac to our facility, thus reducing any risks of temperature deviation during tarmac operation.”