Americold has broken ground in Middleborough, Massachusetts, to construct a cold storage warehouse for long-time client Ocean Spray. The facility will support production requirements for its northeastern United States harvesting operations, specifically for Craisins dried cranberries.
Ocean Spray has been an Americold customer for nearly 40 years. As demand for the company’s array of products has continued to grow globally, so has the need for frozen storage. This new facility, to be built adjacent to Ocean Spray’s production plant in Middleborough, will become a key component of the distribution process for Craisins cranberries.
“We are pleased to be able to expand our support for Ocean Spray with the construction of this new building. It’s a great example of partners coming together to develop a mutually beneficial solution for future growth,” commented Fred Boehler, president and ceo of Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered Americold.
The warehouse will offer 173,000 square feet of bulk storage with three rooms operating at 0o Fahrenheit to maintain cranberry integrity from the point of post-harvest delivery to production. Design considerations took into account the high volume of incoming loads at harvest time, and freezing cranberries to Ocean Spray’s strict standards to ensure optimum taste and color and maximize nutritional value.
“The strength of our Americold partnership comes directly from our close collaboration, and Americold’s commitment to understanding our unique needs as the international leader in cranberry products,” said Mike Stamatakos, senior vice president of global operations for Ocean Spray.
Once the construction phase is completed, Americold will be hiring personnel for full- and part-time positions to support the operation. The facility is expected to open in September of next year, in time for the Autumn 2018 harvest.
About Ocean Spray
Ocean Spray is an agricultural cooperative owned by over 700 cranberry and grapefruit growers in the United States, Canada and Chile. It has more than 2,000 employees and operates nearly 20 cranberry receiving and processing facilities. Formed in 1930, the company ranks as the world’s No. 1 producer of cranberry juices, juice drinks and dried cranberries, and is the best-selling brand in the North American bottled juice category. The cooperative’s cranberries are currently featured in more than 1,000 products distributed in over 100 countries.
