Cold Storage Operations Expanding in the Jacksonville Region
Northeast Florida might not be the first place one thinks of for cold storage facilities, but the Jacksonville region has become an attractive destination for this critical component of the supply chain.
According to the 26th Annual Third-Party Logistics Study, 90 percent of third-party logistics (3PL) respondents report their company plans to expand their cold chain capabilities and service offerings in the coming years. Additionally, few shippers reported handling cold chain transportation exclusively in-house. Jacksonville’s position as an international transportation and logistics leader makes the region a perfect fit for cold chain operations, as noted by the following expansion projects:
- FreezPak Logistics announced the development of an approximately $120 million cold storage facility spanning 272,400 square feet near JAXPORT’s Talleyrand and Dames Point terminals. FreezPak Jacksonville will eventually employ 80 workers and have 56,000 pallet positions in the freezer space, a cooler dock and a fleet of robots from FreezPak’s robotic division.
- Arcadia Cold is creating 76 jobs and investing $86.5 million in a Jacksonville refrigerated distribution facility, located in Imeson International Industrial Park. The facility will include 217,000 square feet, 32 loading docks and 62 trailer storage spaces.
- FlexCold recently opened its $47 million cold storage facility three miles from JAXPORT, catering to industries such as poultry, seafood, beef, fruits, vegetables and consumer packaged goods.
These new facilities complement existing cold storage operations including those by Lineage Logistics, Seaonus and CrowleyFresh.
The increased demand for fresh products, rising grocery e-commerce sales and the global need for medicine and a wider variety of perishables will continue to drive the need for cold chain operations and cold storage facilities. As “America’s Logistics Center,” the Jacksonville region is well equipped and optimally resourced to support the needs of product suppliers and the logistics companies that support them.