Bienvenido A Miami – The Hot New First Stop in the South American Cold Chain

New projects, acquisitions and expansions are underway.

May 15, 2014

Perishables commodities are a big import-export business, topping $350 billion in U.S. trade worldwide in 2013. South America alone accounts for 30 percent of global refrigerated exports, according to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America, making the perishables industry one of the main pillars of Latin American trade.

While perishable exports from Central and South America have seen dramatic growth in recent years, driven by growing demand from traditional and rising markets alike, there are still some logistical shortcomings that are preventing maximum cold chain efficiency and profitability.

Currently, South American produce is required to enter the U. S. through colder, northern ports, particularly Philadelphia. They are then trucked to market into the warmer Southeast due to concerns over fruit flies and other pests that could threaten local crops and vegetation. However, industry reports cite nearly $35 billion of perishable foods are wasted annually, with nearly half of those losses due to temperature changes experienced in-transit between the grower and the grocer

This roundabout trade route for South American perishables—having to first go north to then go south—unnecessarily adds time, costs and potential profit losses for exporters.

Enter Miami as the first link in the cold chain, and the new hotspot for cold storage.

Flagler Global Logistics is one global logistics company leading the charge to redirect perishables trade routes through South Florida. The company’s new South Florida Logistics Center and USDA-certified cold chain process is saving days and dollars for exporters and consumers in the treatment.

The South Florida Logistics Center, a new multimodal distribution hub adjacent Miami International Airport, started operating in October 2013 with a 170,000-square-foot warehouse featuring 60,000 square feet of dedicated refrigerated space. The Center’s cold storage facility has been a gateway entry point for Chilean blueberries and grapes, Peruvian asparagus, Brazilian ginger and other produce.

During this year’s Valentine’s Day crush, the Center handled a vast overflow of fresh-cut flowers from Miami International Airport, which receives two-thirds of all fresh-cut flowers that are imported to the U.S.

Along with providing importers/exporters with a much-needed storage and distribution facility, a USDA-approved treatment process for perishable items at the Center was introduced. The revolutionary treatment process stabilizes the cold chain integrity by exposing fruits and vegetables to a more uniform temperature, vastly improving the quality of the products.

The new treatment’s filtration and recapturing system makes the process more environmentally friendly. Additionally, the Miami-based entry point of the South Florida Logistics Center decreases the amount of time the products are in transport.

Coupling the cold chain infrastructure in place at South Florida Logistics Center with its direct rail connections and highway access to Port Miami and Port Everglades, not to mention neighboring Miami International Airport, the valuable proposition makes it even more attractive for perishable shippers to take advantage of all Miami has to offer.

At the same time, exporters also have a new gateway to the Southeast that allows them to get their product to market more quickly—adding at least a week or more to their products’ shelf life.

With a growing cold chain infrastructure and services, Miami provides a true competitive advantage that saves time and money for shippers while offering consumers products that are fresher and more affordable.

Chris Scott is president and CEO of Flagler Global Logistics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries, LLC, one of Florida’s oldest and largest full-service commercial real estate, transportation, and infrastructure companies.

Cold Storage Activity Heats Up

Lineage continues network expansion, while CrowleyFresh aces a key food safety audit.

By Editorial Staff

Public and private cold storage providers show no sign of slowing down. A number of new projects have been announced recently while several mergers and acquisitions along with expansions are underway.
Lineage Logistics has been one of the busiest. In March, the company purchased Millard Refrigerated Services—the third-largest public refrigerated warehouse provider in North America. The acquisition expands Lineage’s network by 30 strategic locations and increases its footprint to over 21 million total square feet and more than 518 million cubic feet of cold storage capacity.
Within days of announcing the Millard acquisition, Lineage said it would partner with Baker Cold Storage to construct a new 250,000-square-foot cold storage facility near the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex (within the ports’ heavy container corridor).
According to a Lineage press release, the new facility will feature a freezer, cooler and refrigerated cross-dock for truck, container and rail service. Sustainability was a key consideration in the design of the new high-tech facility and once it’s completed it will be the largest near-port facility of its kind in Southern California.
Previously, the 12.6-acre site was used for treating wood products with preservatives and wood treatment chemicals. However, Baker and Lineage have developed a comprehensive mitigation plan to clean up the brownfield site and make it useable for the first time in decades.
“The Port of Long Beach is one of the busiest seaports in the U.S.,” said Bill Hendricksen, CEO of Lineage Logistics. “It is a leading gateway for trade between the United States and Asia. Each year, more than 6 million 20-foot container units come through the Port, along with 75 million metric tons of cargo, much of which requires cold storage.”
The new 250,000-square-foot facility will include storage for 54 million pounds of food stuffs and a cross-dock capable of trans-loading 2 million pounds of product per day. The flexible design of the building will allow for storage and distribution of food products, both fresh and frozen, from temperature-segregated areas within the building. Six quick freeze cells (blast cells) adjacent to the cross-dock can process approximately 1 million pounds of protein/fruit/vegetable products per day.
Just over a year ago, CrowleyFresh opened a new humidity- and temperature-controlled facility in Miami to support growing perishables trade between the U.S., South America and other global regions that are increasingly looking at South Florida as a primary gateway.
The 400,000-square-foot-facility, which operates 24/7, boasts high-tech cooling and monitoring equipment, including forced air precooling, which can be adjusted to meet and maintain varying temperature requirements.
In February, CrowleyFresh achieved a milestone when it earned a perfect 100 percent on a food safety audit conducted by Primus Labs—a score that only about two percent of those in the industry ever achieve.
The nearly 9-hour audit was designed to test and check the company’s ability to maintain the integrity of the supply chain throughout the entirety of the company’s chain of custody—from receipt of the perishable products at the cold storage refrigerated dock to the time it is dispatched to store shelves, stated a press release.
During the audit, the Primus Labs inspector looked at various operations throughout the temperature-controlled warehouse, testing the safekeeping of bell peppers, pineapples, blueberries and asparagus. The 156-question audit covered the precise maintenance of temperature per commodity, cleanliness, absence of cross-contamination and bacterial growth outside of the norm, proper handling of pest control and chemical storage and labeling.
Primus Labs also gave CrowleyFresh high marks for its focus on maintaining proper records. Under current requirements, records must be kept for 12 months detailing the precise temperatures of each of the warehouse’s multiple cooling chambers. CrowleyFresh was easily able to supply these records along with information on how the company tracks recalls, conducts independent lab tests and similar food safety-related functions.