The International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW), a core partner of the Arlington, Virginia, USA-headquartered Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA), has released the association’s annual Global Top 25 List of the largest temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics members of its trade association.
Accompanying the Global Top 25 are the North American Top 25 List and separate rankings of the largest operators in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Europe, reflecting the strength of cold chains in each region. The lists seen below detail total capacity of temperature-controlled space offered by IARW members. Operators outside of the IARW realm are not included in the figures.
Lineage Logistics’ recent acquisition of Preferred Freezer Services’ 390 million cubic feet is not reflected in either the Global or North American Top 25 tabulations, as the transaction is not expected to be finalized until later this year. But the expected result of that acquisition is that Lineage’s 1.3 billion cubic feet of space will make it the largest operator in the world.
IARW members currently own or operate 5.54 billion cubic feet (156.83 million cubic meters) of space. A total capacity of 399.6 million cubic feet was added to the Global Top 25, as a result of growth plus merger and acquisition activity.
“We continue to see the evolution of the Top 25 list as a result of consolidation due to mergers and acquisitions in the industry,” said GCCA President & CEO Corey Rosenbusch. “Each year, rankings shift with new companies coming on the list, including companies that didn’t even exist a few years ago.”
The Global Top 25 currently operates 4.24 billion cubic feet (120.15 million cubic meters). The North American Top 25 operates 3.17 billion cubic feet (88.49 million cubic meters). The European Top 10 operates 791.26 million cubic feet (22.40 million cubic meters). The Latin American Top 10 operates 241.67 million cubic feet (6.84 million cubic meters).
GCCA membership includes more than 1,300 temperature-controlled facilities and members in over 80 countries. Warehouse operators offer a range of logistics solutions, including storage, transportation, processing, blast freezing and export services.
