Article Summary
Leading 3PL and cold storage providers are investing heavily in AI, automation, real-time tracking, and sustainability solutions to modernize cold chain transportation. With 83% of companies maintaining dedicated innovation budgets and nearly half investing at least $500,000 annually, these providers are prioritizing supply chain visibility, improved safety, labor efficiency, and faster order fulfillment to meet evolving customer demands.
- 83% of 3PL companies have dedicated 2026 innovation budgets, with 49% investing at least $500,000 in modernization efforts
- Top innovation priorities include supply chain visibility (33%), inventory management (27%), and labor efficiency (23%)
- Leading technologies: AI-powered computer vision, autonomous robotics, real-time IoT tracking, and predictive analytics for exception management
- Major results achieved include 99.9% pack accuracy rates, 128% increases in packing velocity, and 25% improvements in logistics team efficiency
- Focus on human-centered innovation: Technology amplifies teams rather than replaces them, with AI reserved for operational workflows, not customer-facing interactions
New innovations in the 3PL space isn't a new concept.
From enhancing efficiency and visibility through AI-driven analytics, autonomous warehouse robotics and real-time IoT tracking to creating solutions that address labor shortages, enable predictive insights and deliver sustainability-focused data, today's cold chain 3PLs are at the forefront of innovation in cold chain transportation.
Food Logistics asked a number of past recipients from the Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers award what new technology/solutions they've introduced in the last 12 months as well as what new innovations they're currently investing in to fast-track cold chain innovation.
Supply chain visibility, improved sustainability, increased driver safety and more automation resonate as common themes among today's 3PL and cold storage providers.
In fact, companies remain committed to investing in innovation, as 83% of respondents to Kenco's 2026 Innovation Report reported having a dedicated 2026 innovation budget. While overall budget increases declined compared to the prior year (35%, down from 39%), nearly half of companies (49%) noted an innovation budget of at least $500,000, underscoring continued emphasis on modernization. Leaders are concentrating on foundational improvements, prioritizing quality (33%), inventory management (27%), and labor efficiency (23%).
{This is Part 2 of a multi-part series in the State of 3PL & Cold Storage Providers Report. CLICK HERE to read Part 1}.
Technical innovation, like automation and AI deployment, for example, are powerful when implemented purposefully and with safety top of mind, says Bryan Verbarendse, president, Americas, Americold.
That's why Americold began piloting AI-enabled computer vision in its APAC region, connecting to existing security cameras to help identify operational risk indicators and support targeted coaching.
"Combined with Americold’s internal AI assistant, these tools help reduce uncertainty, improve compliance, and strengthen day-to-day safety performance," he adds.
Likewise, Americold continues to invest in technologies and solutions that enhance visibility, network intelligence and responsiveness across the cold chain.
"In food and grocery, specifically, what we’re seeing is a structural shift toward leaner, more dynamic supply chains and a notable growth in customers investing in e-commerce. Customers are holding less inventory, ordering more frequently, and moving product through the system faster, often in smaller, more precise shipments," says Verbarendse. "In response, the cold chain supporting these customers must operate faster, smarter and with far less margin for error. This is where that intentional capital investment comes in – technologies that improve inventory accuracy and throughput, network strategies that shorten the distance between customers and end markets, and operating systems that deliver reliable performance across facilities."
For example, Americold invested in e-commerce-enabled solutions across five facilities, helping customers manage faster order cycles, smaller and more frequent shipments, and tighter delivery expectations with greater visibility. Its Smart Tracker tool enabled within e-commerce orders provides real-time visibility and enhanced dashboards to help maintain product integrity and stay ahead of disruptions.
For its part, over the past 12 months, Cold-Link Logistics enhanced Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Advance Ship Notice (ASN) capabilities, which enhances system integration and streamlines communication with customers; upgraded its dock scheduling platform to improve throughput and reduce friction at the facility level; and implemented a new CRM system that centralizes data and enables more organized, responsive customer engagement across the business.
"Our technology investments are focused on driving operational efficiency, reducing costs, and improving service quality," says Nick Mandich, partner, Cold-Link Logistics. "For example, we’ve implemented slat and de-slat automation systems, which optimize pallet airflow and accelerate freezing times, directly improving throughput. We’ve also deployed equipment monitoring systems that provide greater visibility into facility operations, helping us track performance, reduce damage, and improve accountability. From an energy perspective, we’ve installed variable frequency drives (VFDs) across our facilities, allowing equipment to modulate output based on temperature thresholds. This reduces energy consumption and lowers operating costs while supporting more sustainable operations."
ColdTrack partnered with Deposco to integrate ColdTrack Live with Deposco’s WMS to create a tightly controlled, scan-based fulfillment environment that significantly reduces the risk of human error, according to Warner Siebert, chief revenue officer, ColdTrack.
The companies implemented a scan-based fulfillment flow that starts from the moment inventory is received: each pallet is scanned and key data is logged within its database, such as lot numbers and expiration dates, enabling the highest level of quality assurance and first-expiration first-out (FEFO) inventory management.
On ColdTrack’s production room floor, order selectors are outfitted with advanced wireless WiFi-enabled wrist computers displaying pick lists and finger-appointed lasers, scanning every item placed into each box. This order data, combined with shipment tracking numbers, provides unprecedented order-level traceability for each parcel from the moment it enters the ColdTrack environment until it is delivered to the consumer’s home.
As a result of these investments, ColdTrack has achieved 99.9% pack accuracy rates (a 67% year-over-year reduction in errors); 128% increase in packing velocity; 99.9% on-time shipping performance; and 99.8% inventory accuracy.
ColdTrack also debuted ColdTrack Live, the company’s proprietary order management system purpose-built for perishable DTC fulfillment.
"The system includes a configurable, logic-driven decision engine that allows new clients to be onboarded in as little as two days, while also supporting advanced functionality such as cartonization, coolant optimization, and real-time order visibility," says Siebert.
Cooler Logistics
With so many new technology tools on the market, Cooler Logistics was deliberate with its investments.
"We knew we wanted to invest in products that enabled our team to do better for our customers and not replace the human-centered experience our partners have come to value," says Michael Cherney, CEO, Cooler Logistics. "With this in mind, we decided to partner with Envoy and DrumKit, both AI solutions that will help our team solve operational bottlenecks, allowing more time for relationship building and strategy."
"We have invested in technology that allows our employees to bypass operational bottlenecks, freeing them to focus on growing the business, sharpening their skills, and deepening customer and carrier relationships. Our guiding principle is simple: technology should amplify our people, not replace them," he adds.
When dawsongroup entered the U.S. market, it did so with a clear mandate: to bring a level of modular cold chain sophistication that matches the complexity of what American businesses are being asked to deliver.
That's why dawsongroup developed the Superbox, a versatile, modular and temperature-controlled infrastructure designed to address the critical need for speed and compliance across a wide spectrum of U.S. industries.
"Designed 50% wider than a traditional refrigerated container, it provides a functional operational environment for pallet movement and inventory management at scale," says Aidan McCauley, president of Dawsongroup tcs USA. "It meets FDA and GMP requirements and features 100% redundancy through dual autonomous refrigeration systems, ensuring zero downtime for the temperature-sensitive products that businesses depend on. It is the kind of infrastructure that allows companies to move away from reactive, crisis-driven procurement and toward a planned, high-performance cold chain strategy."
DSW Distribution Centers, Inc.
DSW Distribution Centers introduced enhanced cybersecurity solutions designed to protect its warehouse management system (WMS) and proprietary business platforms.
"These investments ensure operational continuity, data integrity, and the highest level of protection for our customers’ sensitive supply chain information," says William "Brad" Thayer, president and CEO, DSW Distribution Centers, Inc.
For its part, Fresh Freight has added tools for carrier sourcing, identity verification, lane analytics, and business communications, along with AI-powered workflows that surface market intelligence and reduce repetitive manual work.
"Every addition is evaluated against one question: does it help our team and serve shippers more reliably," says Matt Heroux, president, Fresh Freight.
Like many of today's 3PLs, InTek Logistics' focus is on visibility and exception management for intermodal shipments.
That's why the company continues to invest in integrating real-time shipment tracking.
"We've also extended our TMS capabilities through our Infios/MercuryGate platform to improve load tendering, status visibility, and exception flagging. The goal is straightforward: our customers shouldn't have to ask us for an update. The update should find them," says Rick LaGore, CEO, InTek Logistics.
InTek Logistics also continues to invest in visibility infrastructure and AI-assisted workflow automation.
"Shippers don't just need to know where a shipment is. They need to know if anything went wrong and who's handling it. We've invested in tools that surface exceptions proactively rather than reactively. That means integrating rail event data with dray carrier updates and presenting them in one place, rather than asking customers to chase three parties for answers," says LaGore. "Internally, we've applied AI tools to repetitive workflows: document processing, rate benchmarking, and lane feasibility screening. Tasks that used to take hours now take minutes. That frees our team to focus on judgment calls, exception handling, and customer communication, which is where the real value in their experience and expertise is."
"One thing we've been deliberate about: we haven't deployed AI in customer-facing conversations. Trust is hard to build and easy to lose. Until AI can match the quality of a seasoned logistics professional in a difficult conversation, we keep humans in those seats," LaGore adds.
For Jarrett, the future is also about improving visibility, execution and resilience across the supply chain.
That's why it heavily invested in technology integration tools, such as Jarrett LINC, which allows the company to integrate its transportation management system (TMS) and warehouse management system (WMS) with any customer ERP quickly and easily.
"More importantly, the introduction of this solution reflects how we think about innovation: not as technology for technology’s sake, but as practical tools that solve real customer problems," says Mike Jarrett, founder and CEO of Jarrett. "We continue to invest in technologies that improve visibility, execution, and resilience across the supply chain. That includes our TMS, WMS, predictive analytics and automation using AI, customer-facing visibility tools, and data integrations that reduce manual work. These investments are important because supply chains are becoming more complex. Customers need more precise control, faster communication, and stronger traceability than ever before."
Kenco
Over the past year, Kenco has advanced Stratos, its next‑generation, AI‑powered control tower, designed to bring together end‑to‑end visibility, proactive exception management, predictive modeling and real‑time, prescriptive insights to help operations teams anticipate disruptions and respond more quickly to changing conditions.
Kenco also deployed AgentKEN, an AI‑powered digital agent designed to plan, prioritize, and execute operational work within the warehouse. AgentKEN helps reduce manual effort by automating repetitive but complex tasks, such as wave planning, allowing associates to focus on more value‑added work on the floor. In one example, agent‑based AI automated 281 hours of work over a 30‑day period while maintaining a 99.88% accuracy rate, according to Jason Minghini, SVP, supply chain solutions, Kenco.
In addition, through its long‑standing partnership with GreyOrange, Kenco implemented GreyOrange's advanced robotics and fulfillment technologies across multiple sites to enable intelligent case picking by dynamically assigning pick zones in real time, continuously balancing workloads, and reducing idle time.
While some 3PLs are investing in technologies, Leonard’s Express is actively investing in new facilities and tools to modernize every aspect of its operations, according to Kyle Johnson, CEO, Leonard’s Express.
For example, iBright and ThermoKing allow Leonard's Express to remotely adjust the temperature and humidity of its trailers, while its partnership with Optimal Dynamics provides an AI-based load acceptance and dispatch optimization software to make better routing decisions.
Leonard’s Express also equipped its facilities with individually climate-controlled compartments, allowing each customer to set and maintain ideal temperatures anywhere from -10°F to 55°F for their specific products. The 114,500 square-foot refrigerated warehouse in Shortsville, N.Y., features a drive-thru design where tractor-trailers drive directly into enclosed, climate-controlled bays, avoiding exposure to outside temperatures. The building is also equipped with a VHLS Under-Lever Seal that prevents loss of heating or cooling energy from the building, floor insulation, and warm water coils to prevent permafrost and floor heaving.
For drivers, Leonard’s Express adopted the Idelic Safety Suite that compiles data from telematics, dashcams, ELDs, accidents, and training records to provide insights for personalized coaching and professional development plans.
"The program streamlines our safety workflows for claims, compliance, and discipline while also reducing our liability, insurance costs, and driver turnover," says Johnson.
Leonard's Express also uses ISAAC for electronic logging to ensure accurate DOT-compliant service hours tracking and real-time driving feedback, and partnered with Samsara for inward and outward cameras to record driving incidents and provide footage for investigations, coaching, and driver scorecards.
Loadsmart built native support for temperature-controlled LTL freight within ShipperGuide to capture refrigeration requirements at the shipment level.
Also, when a new carrier GPS ping updates a shipment's ETA, that updated arrival estimate is now automatically pushed from ShipperGuide to Opendock in real time. Shippers can also now review, approve, and dispute invoices directly within ShipperGuide, with automated tolerance rules and document access. What's more, high-volume shippers can now automate order intake from their ERP or OMS directly into ShipperGuide, enabling real-time visibility and removing manual data entry from the planning workflow.
"For temperature-controlled operations where dwell time carries food safety implications, this integration helps warehouse teams prepare before the truck arrives rather than react after," says Felipe Capella, co-founder and CEO, Loadsmart.
Loadsmart's FreightIntel AI (FIAI) enhancements include LTL transit time estimates using machine learning models, expanded spend trend analysis across all modes, and integration with DAT's market data for more trusted FTL rate benchmarking.
In terms of investments, "Loadsmart has made concentrated investments in four areas: AI and automation, platform integration depth, dock and yard management technology, and geographic expansion," Capella says.
FreightIntel AI, for instance, gives shippers diagnostic and prescriptive insights, surfacing the root causes of freight cost overruns, identifying carrier concentration risk, and modeling FTL-to-LTL tradeoffs with reliable transit time estimates.
ShipperGuide Copilot takes AI from insight to action, allowing shippers to query their own freight data in natural language and get answers in seconds rather than hours. Copilot Tasks then executes bulk actions at scale: filtering exceptions, updating carrier assignments, managing tags across hundreds of loads, Capella says.
"Our goal is an intent-driven TMS where the interface becomes a verification and control layer, not the execution layer," Capella adds.
Loadsmart's dynamic pricing and predictive modeling capabilities digest real-time macro-indicators to adjust spot rates in real time, anticipating lane-level price shifts before they hit the broader market.
Through its investment in Opendock and the integration of SmartGate, Loadsmart extended automation to the physical dock and yard, automatically logging truck arrivals and departures and reading container numbers at the gate.
"Combined with ShipperGuide's TMS capabilities, we offer a unified platform from freight sourcing through dock door," Capella says. "The practical efficiency gains are measurable. At a major food manufacturer on our platform, 70% of all shipments now execute through auto-tender in ShipperGuide, automating over 25,000 shipments and making the logistics team 25% more efficient. Athletic Brewing, after adopting ShipperGuide TMS, expanded its carrier network and achieved savings of 7 to 8% below average spot rates."
Roadtex, an Echo Global Logistics company
Echo launched EchoXBorder, which offers seamless customs brokerage services across the United States and Mexico.
Echo also invests more than $50 million in transportation technology every year.
"We do this to continue identifying ways to make our services more efficient and accessible for our clients and partners, as well as our employees. This includes investments in our transportation management system and AI integrations to enable team members to automatically provide clients with shipment data," says Jim Jelinek, president of warehousing, Roadtex, an Echo Global Logistics company.
RXO
RXO has invested in technologies that help fight fraud and prevent losses for customers, including a multi-pronged approach that includes sourcing high-quality reefer carriers, implementing robust tracking technologies, and following best-in-classes internal processes to prevent fraud.
Source Logistics
In the past 12 months, Source Logistics implemented IFS Softeon's warehouse management system (WMS) to enable seamless connectivity with customer systems and faster onboarding of new facilities.
"The new platform enhances real-time inventory visibility, improves order accuracy, and standardizes operations across our network, delivering a more consistent and reliable experience for customers," says Bart Bullard, VP, information technology. "Through this rollout, Source has also established repeatable operating models and system templates that allow them to stand up new sites more quickly and efficiently as we expand nationwide."
In parallel, Source Logistics' partnership with Alpine Supply Chain Solutions brings a disciplined, process-driven implementation approach that ensures operational consistency, strong change management, and long-term scalability.
"Collectively, these investments position Source Logistics to support complex 3PL requirements, particularly in food and beverage, while enabling customers to scale with greater efficiency, visibility, and cost control," Bullard says.
Transervice launched FleetChain, an AI-driven freight visibility platform that provides real-time visibility across the entire delivery cycle. By continuously recalculating ETAs using live traffic and weather conditions, it enables proactive decision-making and improved service reliability. With live route tracking, automated delivery notifications, and customer-facing tracking links, FleetChain enhances transparency while reducing manual communication. Its ability to compare planned versus actual performance also gives customers clear, data-driven insights into service execution and opportunities for improvement.
Complementing this platform is a new pallet scanning technology that streamlines delivery accuracy and expedites documentation. Drivers can instantly scan pallet tags to capture and transmit shipment data directly to the customer in real time, significantly reducing errors and improving accountability from warehouse, transportation and end destination.
"This capability reduces our reliance on paper-based bills of lading, accelerates the delivery confirmation process, and creates a more efficient, seamless customer experience from dock to final destination," says Scott Ginn, VP operations, Transervice.
YMX Logistics
YMX Logistics introduced its yard operating system (YOS), a system-based approach that combines real-time visibility, automated data capture, predictive analytics, and standardized execution to enable teams to move from reactive, labor-driven processes to controlled, continuously optimized operations across multi-site networks.
"This model has been deployed in complex, high-volume environments. In one large-scale grocery distribution operation managing nearly 1,000 trailers, YMX implemented a more structured operating system that reduced yard truck fleet requirements while improving throughput, safety, and overall efficiency. Within months, this approach was expanded across multiple additional facilities, demonstrating its ability to scale and deliver consistent, measurable performance across an entire network," says Erin Mitchell, COO of YMX Logistics.
Building on this foundation, YMX also announced the next evolution of its yard operating system, introducing autonomous capabilities that incorporate AI, computer vision, and real-time data to further enhance visibility, decision-making, and orchestration.
"YMX Logistics has taken a system-based approach to technology investment, grounded in the belief that tools alone don’t solve execution challenges," Mitchell says. "As part of this approach, YMX has invested in predictive analytics and real-time data integration to better anticipate yard congestion, trailer demand, and dock activity. These capabilities allow operations teams to shift from reactive problem-solving to more proactive planning, positioning assets, aligning labor, and sequencing moves based on expected conditions. The objective is not just improved visibility, but greater control: reducing variability, minimizing unnecessary moves, and improving throughput across both the yard and dock."
YMX has also invested in electric yard trucks as part of a broader sustainability and operational efficiency strategy.
"Electrification introduces new variables, such as charging infrastructure, uptime planning, and energy management, that must be fully integrated into daily operations. By embedding these assets within the yard operating system, YMX ensures that sustainability initiatives translate into measurable performance improvements, while helping enterprise customers reduce fuel dependency, lower maintenance costs, and advance long-term ESG goals," says Mitchell.
