The frost market heats up BY JOHANNA F. STILL PHOTO BY T.J. DRECHSEL
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nearly halfbillion-dollar tranche of private capital investments in cold storage is being planned in the Wilmington region. The infusion of funds into an otherwise sparse local cold storage marketplace is expected to result in the addition of nearly 2 million square feet of cold storage warehouse space within the next few years. Several participants in the cold storage world say Wilmington currently has too little of the space – and adding more could create jobs, drive more goods through the port and amp up the regional economy. Of the four proposed developments, each are planned to feature an expansive temperaturecontrolled warehouse larger than 200,000 square feet. Capabilities among the projects range from the option to store refrigerated and frozen
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goods to features geared toward serving the agricultural or life science sectors. “Wilmington is vastly underserved from a cold storage perspective,” said Josh Lewis, chief strategy officer for RL Cold. “If you look at any other port city, even smaller port cities, there’s three, four or five cold storage facilities there today.” Lewis, part of the team building a $100 million refrigerated warehouse at the Pender Commerce Park that broke ground in April, said the area’s lack of cold storage space to accommodate the state’s food manufacturers and processors was surprising. Nearby protein producers have traditionally sent their products to be exported at larger East Coast ports, according to Lewis. “Logically, it makes more sense” to send locally produced products through the Port of Wilmington, he said. Pandemic-related disruptions and busy port backlogs prompted a widescale reassessment of the supply chain, causing stakeholders to consider secondary markets like Wilmington more seriously. Also, unprecedented demand prompted the marketplace to prepare for goods shortages to prevent the mismatch from occurring again. In March, the port saw its highest refrigerated cargo volume in its history. The Port of Wilmington historically has not been a major player in cold chain. It saw less than 1% of East Coast cold-chain imports during the first quarter of 2021, according to the Journal of Commerce. But as activity for refrigerated cargo increases nationally, local port officials hope to capture more of the trade. In 2020, a $14 million investment allowed the Port of Wilmington to add 540 refrigerated container plugs, which connect the specialized containers to a power source in a dedicated container yard. In February, the ports authority authorized adding another 704 plugs in a nearly $23 million project set to be complete M A G A Z I N E
next year. Recently, the port added an 8,000-square foot chiller facility, which is mostly dedicated to inbound produce headed to grocery stores. These port investments in cold storage capabilities unlock potential for North Carolina businesses, ports authority officials said recently. “North Carolina is experiencing rapid growth in the cold cargo sector,” authority spokesperson Christina Hallingse said. Seizing the already robust export market also depends on the region’s
