Refrigerated Transporter (2024)

19/02/2024

Arctic Glacier Premium Ice, a Philadelphia-based provider of ice products and services, recently enhanced its distribution efficiency, fleet performance, and customer experience with Descartes Systems Group’s route planning, which optimized its network of over 100 facilities and 1,000 vehicles that serve 75,000 customer locations in North America.

Provider of ice products and services turns to Descartes’ route planning solution for optimized efficiency, fleet performance, and customer experience.

15/02/2024

Refrigerated trailer specialist PLM Fleet recently earned a New Jersey Top Workplaces award for the fifth consecutive year.

Refrigerated fleet specialist earns fifth consecutive honor for fostering exceptional employee culture and engagement in New Jersey.

13/02/2024

UNFI recently appointed J.J. Schlangen as president of the company’s central region. He will lead one of the company’s three regional sales divisions and report to Steve Dietz, chief customer officer.

Food wholesaler selects J.J. Schlangen, who most recently served as VP of sales strategy and operations, to lead three regional sales divisions.

12/02/2024

U.K. logistics company KM Transport Limited, a regional distributor for a major supermarket, reports achieving a “four-figure monthly saving” on diesel after fitting seven refrigerated trucks with Hultsteins’ Ecogen CostSaver system.

KM Transport reports reduced emissions and ‘four-figure savings’ after retrofitting its refrigerated trucks with Hultsteins' Ecogen generators to power trailer re**er units.

09/02/2024

Leonard's Express is celebrating its third consecutive selection as one of North America’s Top 20 Best Fleets to Drive For.

Family-owned for-hire carrier credits ‘multitude’ of driver programs for its ability to maintain a spot among CarriersEdge’s Top 20 Best Fleets to Drive For in 2024.

02/02/2024

Carrier Transicold Truck/Trailer Americas recently introduced the all-electric Neos 200e transport refrigeration unit (TRU) for small electric and engine-powered delivery vehicles.

The new all-electric Neos 200e transport refrigeration unit is designed to reduce carbon emissions from electric and engine-powered delivery vans.

01/02/2024

CJ Logistics America plans to open a new cold storage warehouse in Gainesville, Georgia.

RL Cold will help develop the state-of-the-art new 270,000-sq.-ft. temperature-controlled facility in the ‘heart of the nation’s protein production region.’

31/01/2024

York Street Market, a food services and logistics subsidiary of Lorenzo Food Group, is expanding into the Midwest and Southwest regions of the United States.

Lorenzo Food Group plans to introduce its distribution subsidiary’s Grab-and-Go programs to new customers in the Midwest and Southwest U.S.

30/01/2024

KANSAS CITY, Kansas—Almost 20 years ago, Kurt Neutgens failed to build an electric sports car in his garage. On Friday, the governor was here to congratulate him and Orange EV co-founder Wayne Mathisen on opening a 440,000-sq.-ft. factory in her state so they can build thousands more electric yard trucks to help fleets cut emissions and improve depot operations.

No company in the U.S. has built more electric Class 8 trucks than Orange EV, which sold its first terminal tractor to DHL Supply Chain in 2015. The OEM delivered its 1,000th tractor to Lazer Logistics last November. Neutgens hopes to eventually double that output annually here in the Sunflower State.

The first company to successfully scale up terminal tractor electrification opened a new manufacturing facility and office headquarters in Kansas. Yard trucks are proving to be...

29/01/2024

Hercules Manufacturing Company, which builds customized refrigerated vehicles, is under new ownership.

Jeffrey A. Caddick, who owned the 120-year-old refrigerated vehicle manufacturer for 20 years, sells the Kentucky-based business to former employee Justin Wilson.

25/01/2024

CAS DataLoggers - Your Data Logging Experts recently introduced the V5C cold chain data logger manufactured by Fr**ga Real Time Cold Chain Solutions.

Fr**ga V5C device protects perishable shipments by providing automatic temperature, humidity, light, shock, and location readings.

24/01/2024

Netherlands-based trailer leasing company TIP Group is expanding its partnership with Sunswap by placing another minimum order of 20 Endurance transport refrigeration units (TRUs) and commencing customer trials in an effort to deliver sustainable temperature-controlled transport solutions at scale across Europe.

European trailer lessor orders 20 battery- and solar-powered transport refrigeration units, and commences customer trials of the supplier’s sustainable re**er technology.

23/01/2024

Leonard's Express plans to install ISAAC Instruments’ electronic logging devices and “driver-centric” telematics across its entire fleet.

Temperature-controlled transportation specialist turns to Issac Instruments for a new ELD and telematics solution designed to simplify the driver experience.

22/01/2024

Fortune International, an Illinois-based seafood distributor, importer, and processor with a fleet of refrigerated trucks, recently appointed six new executives to its leadership team in an effort to expand the company’s financial, operational, and marketing capabilities.

Fortune Fish & Gourmet

Leadership changes, including appointments of new CFO, CRO, and CIO, intended to expand seafood distributor’s financial, operational, and marketing capabilities.

19/01/2024

Spot truckload rates rose in December and the gap between spot and contract van rates closed to its narrowest point since March 2022, when prices to move truckload freight were near all-time highs, according to new data from DAT Freight & Analytics.

A convergence of spot and contract rates would signal an end to the current cycle of falling prices for truckload services, DAT reported.

“Entering 2024, shippers are in a strong position as they negotiate contract rates, and carriers on the spot market have some optimism that the market will turn,” DAT’s chief ...

18/01/2024

Food distributor KeHE and wine and spirits distributor LibDib, recently landed new wholesale distribution deals with Boisson, which is expanding its distribution of non-alcoholic beverages in the United States.

New partnerships with non-alcoholic beverage wholesaler Boisson expands the distributors’ presence in a growing category already worth $550M.

17/01/2024

Refrigerated fleets shined in the Truckload Carriers Association’s 48th Annual Fleet Safety Awards competition.

The Erb Group and Fortune, both refrigerated transportation specialists, win their divisions in the Truckload Carriers Association’s 48th Annual Fleet Safety Awards

11/01/2024

Cargo theft is an accelerating problem for the transportation industry.

One expert, Travelers' Scott Cornell, recently told FleetOwner that cargo theft is at a "10-year high," pointing to a 57% year-over-year increase in activity in the second quarter of 2023—resulting in the loss of over $44 million in shipments. And it was already bad last January when pictures of looted freight trains went viral.

"The reality is, it's been like that for a long time," Kevin Lynch, QProducts & Services general manager, told Refrigerated Transporter.

"It's just starting to get some real media attention."

Matt Handte, EVP at TRIBE Express, a refrigerated carrier in Gainesville, Georgia, is paying attention, and his view is dire. "We're seeing cargo theft numbers that are the highest we've ever seen as an industry. It's certainly out there—and it's getting worse."

QProducts’ intelligent Power In-Lock is helping Tribe and other temperature-controlled fleets fend off freight thieves—and protect the country’s food and pharmaceutical supply...

09/01/2024

From the Refrigerated Transporter special section in the December print issue of FleetOwner magazine:

From the post-deregulation explosion of carriers to the demand-destroying Great Recession and the COVID-19 slowdown, Richard Durst has seen it all during his long trucking career. The names and places change, as do the underlying social dynamics, but the structure remains the same, just as it does in the endless stream of Hollywood remakes.

The current act involves a soft refrigerated freight market crushing rates. The antagonists include overcapacity—resulting from the influx of trucks in the post-pandemic spot-market high—and painful food inflation. “How many times have we seen this movie?” quipped Richard, co-founder, president, and CEO of Arctic Express.

“Over and over and over again in my 42 years.”

That’s why Richard, 75, isn’t overreacting. A freight flurry follows every lull, and he already knows his family-owned and -operated firm can endure the most difficult of circumstances, including a bankruptcy and years-long reorganization in the late 1990s and 2000s that would have defeated a less-dogged defender. More recently, Arctic Express emerged from the global health crisis with its long profitability streak intact. Richard expects the Hilliard, Ohio-based business to finish in the black for the 13th consecutive year in 2023.

“We’ve seen our share of ugly,” he confided to Refrigerated Transporter. “This isn’t an easy business. It’s not for the faint of heart. You’ve got to be tough-minded and determined—or you’re not going to survive.”

Family-operated refrigerated carrier endures trucking drama and stays fresh by carefully scripting its business model—and keeping the focus on the principal protagonists.

15/12/2023

A post-Thanksgiving surge in truckload freight volumes made for a solid November overall compared to previous years, according to a new report from DAT Freight & Analytics.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday shipments make for a ‘solid’ month compared to previous years, but shippers continue to benefit from ‘ample’ capacity.

14/12/2023

Lineage Logistics is exploring the potential transition to greener cold storage standards as part of the new “Join the Move to -15 C” coalition, which includes DP World and several other global supply chain and logistics organizations.

Newly formed ‘Join the Move to -15 C’ coalition seeks to reduce global carbon emissions by reassessing the standards for frozen food storage.

13/12/2023

Banks Cold Storage recently broke ground on a new Ti Cold-designed facility near Athens, Georgia, about 70 miles east of Atlanta.

Advanced temperature-controlled warehouse to feature 65-ft. building heights, very narrow aisles, and two-deep racking when construction is completed in the second quarter of ...

12/12/2023

RealCold, a Florida-based cold storage provider, recently acquired Forte Frozen, which offers national temperature-controlled warehousing and fulfillment services.

Florida-based cold storage provider absorbs Forte Frozen, giving it five temperature-controlled warehouses in strategic markets across the country.

08/12/2023

A group of PLM Fleet employees recently turned out to support the local Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ).

Refrigerated fleet management company sends 55 volunteer workers and a $1,000 donation to the Community Foodbank of New Jersey to fight food insecurity.

06/12/2023

TracKing telematics will help re**er fleets decarbonize the cold chain in 2024, when Thermo King’s advanced telematics hardware and two-year service subscription will come standard on auxiliary power units (APUs), and trailer and large truck products sold in the U.S. and Canada, according to the manufacturer.

The company’s trailer and large truck products will feature TracKing hardware and two-year service subscriptions as standard features that support sustainability beginning in ...

05/12/2023

Canadian restaurant operator Tim Hortons recently took delivery of its first two Volvo VNR Electric trucks, which will transport food and beverages from two distribution centers to Tim Hortons establishments.

With nearly 4,000 restaurants, Tim Hortons is the country’s largest quick-service operator.

Tim Hortons plans to use its first two Volvo battery-electric trucks to deliver food and beverages from two distribution centers to local stores and quick-service locations.

04/12/2023

EROAD Inc. is partnering with Thermo King to integrate its transportation technology with Thermo King’s TracKing telematics equipment.

New integration enables access to ERoad’s cold chain technology solutions through Thermo King’s TracKing telematics in Precedent transport refrigeration units.

01/12/2023

Lineage Logistics recently broke ground on an expansion of its Foothills facility in Calgary, Alberta, Canada intended to help it better serve a growing market.

The addition of 30% more capacity at Lineage’s Calgary, Alberta, facility will grow the Foothills location’s cold storage space to 200,000 sq. ft. and 24,000 pallet positions....

29/11/2023

IQAX, which is a Hong Kong-based developer of shipping and logistics technology solutions, recently invested in BoxPlus Information Technology Company as part of its efforts to support the growing re**er market with the IBOX Re**er, which companies IQAX’s software with IoT devices and sensors developed by BoxPlus.

New refrigerated container combines Hong Kong-based IQAX’s software with internet-of-things devices and sensors from BoxPlus to better protect sensitive cargo.

21/11/2023

Sensitech recently launched a new offering for monitoring outbound shipments through the SensiWatch platform.

New offering through SensiWatch platform extends real-time perishable goods protection to the last mile of outbound operations.

Refrigerated Transporter