The Global Cold Chain Alliance has released its Global Top 25 List of the largest temperature-controlled warehouse and logistics members, showing increases in capacity in all major markets.
The GCCA represents a number of cold-chain logistics companies from across the world, including the Association of Refrigerated Warehouses, the World Food Logistics Organization, the International Refrigerated Transportation Association, and the Controlled Environment Building Association. The organization’s list showcases members with the largest storage space in four main categories: North America, Latin America, Europe, and Worldwide.
GCCA President and CEO Matthew R. Ott said the importance of cold storage came into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The coronavirus pandemic showed the world just how important the cold chain industry really is. GCCA members continue to expand into developing markets, and we are also seeing growth in emerging markets where cold-chain services are most needed,” Ott said. “As evidenced by this year’s top 25 list, consolidation continues to play a major role in the growth of the largest players in the cold-storage industry.”
Globally, GCCA members increased storage capacity by 982 million cubic feet, which according to the GCCA, is largely related to merger and acquisition activity. The largest cold-storage logistics member of the GCCA by cubic feet, according to the list as of March 2022, was Lineage Logistics, with just under 2.6 billion cubic feet (73 million cubic meters) of storage space available. Second place to Lineage is Americold Logistics, with 1.4 billion cubic feet (39.9 million cubic meters).
The same two companies also represented the largest members in North America, with Lineage holding 1.83 billion cubic feet (51.8 million cubic meters) of space and Americold holding 1.16 billion cubic feet (32.8 million cubic meters). GCCA North American member capacity increased by 473 million cubic feet between 2020 and 2022.
Lineage is also the largest member in Europe, with 569 million cubic feet (16.1 million cubic meters) of space, followed by NewCold Advanced Cold Logistics, with 122 million cubic feet (3.4 million cubic meters). European capacity increased by 251 million cubic feet over the time period.
In Latin America, the largest GCCA member is Frialsa Frigorificos, with 108 million cubic feet (3 million cubic meters) of capacity. Capacity in Latin America increased by 137 million cubic feet between 2020 and 2022.
Currently, the top 25 GCCA members operate 6.05 billion cubic feet (170 million cubic meters) of storage total. Overall, members represent 6.63 billion cubic feet (188 million cubic meters) of temperature-controlled storage space.
Photo courtesy of Lineage Logistics
