Food Logistics Names 2017 Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers

Food Logistics' annual Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers is an up-to-date list of the industry's top providers, with a summary of their capabilities.

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Maintaining the cold chain is vital to protecting and meeting the demands of today’s ever-changing supply chain. The companies on this year’s Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers list each play an important role in keeping up with that challenge.

Diverse in their capabilities and the customers they service, each company continues to improve their expertise and keep up with the latest temperature monitoring technologies, transportation management systems and warehouse management systems. Transportation and logistics in the food supply chain, especially perishables, requires a commitment on the part of 3PLs and cold storage providers to continually invest in their own operations to meet the needs of their customers’ operations.

The Rise of High-Tech Cold Storage

To help logistics professionals know who they can turn to for help in temperature-controlled transport issues, Food Logistics offers its annual Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers as an up-to-date list of providers with a summary of their capabilities. This list provides a handy resource to transportation decision makers, giving them a snapshot of the capabilities of these companies and the geographic regions they serve.

Managing the Cold Storage Supply Chain

Congratulations to all of the companies earning a spot on our 2017 Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers list. The following are expanded profiles of some of the companies on the list. To see the complete list, please click here.

View previous years' lists:
2016 Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers

2015 Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers

2014 Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers

Americold

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Year Founded: 1903

Number of Employees: 11,000

Area served: International

Asset/Non Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Americold customers asked for a national consolidation program, and the logistics provider has worked hard to deliver a network of regional consolidation centers to cover every food retailer and service provider with scheduled deliveries. Customers have national access from any of Americold’s strategically-located regional consolidation centers.

Burris Logistics

Location: Milford, Delaware

Year Founded: 1925

Number of Employees: 1,863

Area served: U.S. Region

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Burris Logistics is a high-quality provider of customized perishable, multi-temperature supply chain solutions, including freight management, warehousing, distribution and technology solutions. They pride themselves on their ability to learn from their customers and the industries they serve to collaborate on the best solutions for their supply chain needs.

DSC Logistics

Location: Des Plaines, Illinois

Year Founded: 1960

Number of Employees: 3,600

Area served: North America

Asset/Non Asset: Both

Worth Noting: DSC Logistics is a leader in transforming logistics and supply chain management into a critical business strategy based on collaborative partnerships, innovative thinking and high-performance operations. Additionally, DSC is a certified woman-owned business.

DSW Distribution Centers Inc.

Location: Rancho Cucamonga, California

Year Founded: 1973

Number of Employees: 55

Area served: International

Asset/Non-Asset: Asset

Worth Noting: DSW Distribution Centers Inc. is a 44-year-old, family-owned, third-party logistics provider, offering a wide array of value-added services, with specialized licensing and multiple temperatures for the food, pharma/bio tech, beverage and consumer packaged goods industries.

Ease Logistics Services LLC

Location: Dublin, Ohio

Year Founded: 2014

Number of Employees: 22

Area served: National

Asset/Non-Asset: Non-asset

Worth Noting: Ease Logistics has experienced steady growth through the food and beverage industry since its founding in 2014. In three years, their revenue has grown from $3 million in 2014, $12 million in 2015 and $18 million in 2016. Ease moves more than 9,000 temperature-controlled and 5,000 dry shipments a year.

FST Logistics

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Year Founded: 1991

Number of Employees: 300

Area served: North America

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: FST Logistics is an employee-owned, 100 percent food-focused logistics company, offering customers a single source solution for all temperature-controlled warehousing and transportation needs. In addition, they offer a fulfillment solution for small e-commerce packages— for both B-B and B-C.

H&M Bay Inc.

Location: Federalsburg, Maryland

Year Founded: 1982

Number of Employees: 555

Area served: National

Asset/Non-Asset: Non-asset

Worth Noting: H&M Bay is the country’s premier logistics provider for less-than-truckload (LTL) refrigerated and frozen commodities. Consolidation centers strategically located nationwide, along with a host of web-based systems for ordering and tracking, help H&M Bay’s customers manage all their shipping needs.

Henningsen Cold Storage Co.

Location: Hillsboro, Oregon

Year Founded: 1923

Number of Employees: 341

Area served: National

Asset/Non-Asset: Non-asset

Worth Noting: Henningsen Cold Storage Co. is a fifth-generation, family-owned corporation, with roots dating to 1923. Henningsen also is the 11th largest cold storage company in North America, and currently is finishing construction on its 11th temperature-controlled warehouse, which will be located in Salem, Oregon.

Johanson Transportation Service

Location: Fresno, California

Year Founded: 1971

Number of Employees: 89

Area served: International

Asset/Non-Asset: Non-asset

Worth Noting: JTS is a transportation member of Blue Book Services, with a $1.5 million credit score and the highest 4X rating. They are TIA Performance Certified and an Internet Truckstop Diamond Broker. JTS is unique in offering business improvement ideas, TMS services, and above and beyond shipment monitoring and confirmation services for their customers.

Kane Is Able

Location: Scranton, Pennsylvania

Year Founded: 1930

Number of Employees: 1,300

Area served: National

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: In an outsourced services environment, culture matters. Companies can’t afford to partner with a group of clock-watchers who see themselves as one step removed from their customers. Companies need team players that think and act as extensions of their company, sweating the details, pinching pennies, losing sleep. That’s the kind of culture that’s been cultivated at Kane Is Able since 1930. Those are the kinds of people they employ. Results don’t lie.

Keller Logistics Group

Location: Defiance, Ohio

Year Founded: 1978

Number of Employees: 346

Area served: National

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Keller Logistics Group is family owned and accountable to their stakeholders—not stockholders—standing proud of their small company culture with large corporate capabilities. Keller’s suite of services provides efficient closed loop logistics solutions, minimizing the costs associated with multiple logistics resource outsourcing. Their affiliate companies specialize in serving the food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, building supplies, medical and scrap metal industries.

Kenco

Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee

Year Founded: 1950

Number of Employees: 5,000

Area served: North America

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Kenco’s integrated logistics platform focuses on commitment to service and cultural alignment, while providing vertically integrated and engineered solutions with its partners. Kenco also is a U.S.- and Canada-focused company, with the capabilities of fulfilling supplier diversity requirements. Additionally, they are proud to be the largest woman-owned third-party logistics company in the United States.

Lineage Logistics

Location: Irvine, California

Year Founded: 2006

Number of Employees: 6,500

Area served: North America

Asset/Non Asset: Asset

Worth Noting: Lineage Logistics recently opened a new facility in Long Beach, California, expanding its national cold storage footprint to more than 610 million cubic feet at 114 facilities in 22 states. The company also added high pressure processing capacity at two locations and initiated energy savings programs throughout the network. Additionally, the company acquired Consolidated Distribution Corporation (CDC), a third-party logistics and redistribution company, which makes Lineage the largest customized redistribution network in the United States.

Metro Park Warehouses

Location: Kansas City, Missouri

Year Founded: 1970

Number of Employees: 175

Area served: U.S. Region

Asset/Non-Asset: Asset

Worth Noting: Metro Park Warehouses differentiates itself competitively as a licensed alcohol, drugs and medical device distributor. Metro Park recently established a regional truckload company for customer outbound shipments, and constructed a new 350,000-square-foot building to accommodate growth by two major customers. The expansion allowed another major customer to consolidate inventories and other customers to streamline inbound rail shipments.

Penske Logistics

Location: Reading, Pennsylvania

Year Founded: 1969

Number of Employees: 14,180

Area served: International

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Penske Logistics is one of the industry’s largest providers of 3PL, dedicated contract carrier and warehousing services.

Polar & Great Lakes Cold Storage

Location: Solon, Ohio

Year Founded: 1999

Number of Employees: 100+

Area served: North America

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: As a full service 3PL, Polar & Great Lakes Cold Storage offers a variety of services to customers across North America. Transportation services include temperature-controlled LTL and truckload capabilities, multi-vendor consolidation, local shuttles and redelivery, and dedicated services. Warehousing services include long- and short-term commitments across 8.8 million cubic feet of space, blast freezing, labeling, full EDI, and seasonal opportunities.

Port Jersey Logistics

Location: Cranbury, New Jersey

Year Founded: 1954

Number of Employees: 195

Area served: National

Asset/Non Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Port Jersey Logistics operates two divisions: Continental Logistics Inc., focused on transportation management, and Tyler Distribution Centers Inc., focused on warehousing solutions. Both divisions focus on servicing the packaged food and food ingredients industries by combining advanced systems, compliance knowledge and industry experience.

RBW Logistics

Location: Augusta, Georgia

Year Founded: 1954

Number of Employees: 124

Area served: North America

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: RBW likes to think of themselves as creative logisticians. They work with food-grade manufacturing customers to add value and create a smarter supply chain. Most recently, they were able to help a customer improve their operations and remove a couple links of their supply chain by allowing them to blend their tea in one of the RBW facilities.

Redwood Logistics

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Year Founded: 2001

Number of Employees: 357

Area served: North America

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Redwood’s proprietary B2B integration platform, RedwoodConnectSM, enables the logistics provider to integrate their customers’ disparate supply chain systems seamlessly, meaning a faster speed to automation, improved visibility and control. Redwood’s employees act as a trusted extension of their customer’s team, creating continued value. They have grown organically because Redwood never stops investing in their people and a culture that fosters long-lasting relationships with their customers.

RLS Logistics

Location: Newfield, New Jersey

Year Founded: 1988

Number of Employees: 250

Area served: North America

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: RLS Logistics continues to provide exceptional service, with heavy emphasis on service and food safety. Expansion plans are under way for construction of their fifth cold storage location. RLS also is looking to expand operations in the west and Salt Lake City, Utah. They offer temperature-controlled LTL consolidation, warehousing, packaging, re-packing, and B2B and B2C fulfillment.

Ryder System Inc.

Location: Miami, Florida

Year Founded: 1933

Number of Employees: 34,500

Area served: International

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Ryder provides warehousing and transportation services, with public and dedicated warehouse facilities; cross-dock and trans-load capability; and food packaging capabilities, with a 343,000 square foot multi-temperature facility located on 27 acres in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Ryder recently launched a new, innovative technology solution, RyderShare, which works on smart devices and desktops alike, providing load location visibility, tracking and customized communications across all modes of transportation through a single source.

Service First Logistics Inc.

Location: Auburn Hills, Michigan

Year Founded: 2011

Number of Employees: 45

Area served: North America

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Service First’s competitive differentiator is their dedication to improve the supply chain through innovative technology. Their TMS platform provides customers with complete transparency, offering live shipment tracking, temperature readings, integrated messaging and paperless document storage. Service First customers have the ability to view, update and make notes to a shipment from their smartphone, tablet or computer.

Snowland Freight Services

Location: Mendota Heights, Minnesota

Year Founded: 1985

Number of Employees: 12

Area served: National

Asset/Non-Asset: Non-asset

Worth Noting: Snowland is a 3PL with the infrastructure, technology and resources to help customers simplify their supply chain, create efficiency and develop solutions that drive value without compromising on quality. They manage almost every type of shipment to all points in the contiguous 48 states, and are committed to long-term relationships with both shippers and carriers.

Star Distribution Systems Inc.

Location: Plant City, Florida

Year Founded: 1892

Number of Employees: 325

Area served: U.S. Region

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Star Distribution’s core focus is providing LTL freight consolidation services with guaranteed next day delivery to any location in the state of Florida. They have more than 150 food and beverage customers who take advantage of their program—from soup to nuts.

Transplace

Location: Frisco, Texas

Year Founded: 2000

Number of Employees: 1,740

Area served: North America

Asset/Non Asset: Non-asset

Worth Noting: Transplace is a premier provider of managed transportation, consulting and TMS solutions, as well as intermodal, truck brokerage and cross-border trade services. With operations centers located throughout North America, Transplace delivers integrated solutions tailored to meet in-county and cross-border supply chain needs. The company is recognized among the elite 3PLs for its proven ability to deliver both rapid return on investment and consistent value to a customer base ranging from mid-market shippers to Fortune 500 companies.

Transportation Insight

Location: Hickory, North Carolina

Year Founded: 1999

Number of Employees: 440

Area served: International

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Transportation Insight is a global enterprise logistics provider with top-tier solutions in all transportation modes. The U.S. EPA 2016 SmartWay Excellence Awardee’s offerings encompass robust technology, big data solutions, supply chain analytics, streamlined operational processes and proprietary continuous improvement methodologies for the end-to-end supply chain.

VersaCold Logistics Services

Location: Richmond, British Columbia

Year Founded: 1946

Number of Employees: 2,600

Area served: North America

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: VersaCold is Canada’s largest supply chain solutions company, focused exclusively on the handling of temperature sensitive products. VersaCold delivers a suite of fully integrated logistics services through its national network of industry leading facilities, transportation fleet and advanced technologies, which set the benchmark for accessibility, information visualization, real-time tracking and inventory management.

Worley Companies

Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Year Founded: 1977

Number of Employees: 120

Area served: National

Asset/Non-Asset: Both

Worth Noting: Worley is strategically located for regional storage of temperature-controlled and ambient storage. Worley’s focus on food defense/food safety and regulatory compliance is an attribute their clients depend on as a service provider and technical resource. Their operational strategy and tactical approach are designed to be in sync with their clients’ strategic objectives. Worley’s WMS, WAREPAK/400, is capable of interfacing with major ERP solutions.

WSI

Location: Appleton, Wisconsin

Year Founded: 1966

Number of Employees: 1,000

Area served: National

Asset/Non Asset: Both

Worth Noting: From canned tomatoes to non-fat dry milk to cranberries, WSI is your dry foods expert. Adhering to rigorous condition, count and time standards and safety regulations, WSI ensures products leave warehouses in top condition for journeys across town or overseas. Commitment to absolute reliability—guaranteeing products arrive in the best shape, the right quantity and at the correct time—is key to their clients’ supply chain processes.

Yusen Logistics (Americas) Inc.

Location: Secaucus, New Jersey

Year Founded: 1955

Number of Employees: 2,700

Area served: International

Asset/Non Asset: Non-asset

Worth Noting: Yusen Logistics (Americas) has more than four decades of experience working with food growers, manufacturers, suppliers and retailers to help them solve their unique supply chain requirements. Yusen handles nearly a million dollars in food- and beverage-related business each year. Their services include: reefer, over the road, less-than-truckload, flow-through warehousing and retail POS display management.

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