The United Kingdom’s Cold Chain Federation, in marking World Refrigeration Day on June 26, announced that its membership now offers more than 40 million cubic meters of space, which is the equivalent to the bowl volume of 35 Wembley Stadiums. Combined capacity of the 460 refrigerated warehouses accounts for the vast majority of cold storage space in Britain.
The approximate 10% increase in space – up from 36 million cubic meters last year – was attributed to investment in building new facilities, the expansion of existing warehouses, and continued growth of membership.
“Cold storage is an absolutely critical part of national and global food and pharmaceutical supply chains, enabling the resilient and reliable supply of safe, high quality frozen and fresh products whilst also radically reducing food waste and the associated carbon impact. The importance of our nation’s cold storage capacity came to the fore during the pandemic, but there has been very strong demand for cold storage space in the UK for some years,” stated Tom Southall, the Federation’s policy director.
He added: “The continued growth in cold storage capacity is great news for the UK’s food resilience, great news for our economy with significant investment both from abroad and from within the UK, great news for consumers who benefit from the food supply chain, and great news for our industry as it continues to grow and turns towards an exciting future.”
