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Running on Ice: Port Houston gets an upgrade

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This year, the Future of Freight Festival will take place November 19-21 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But this is no ordinary conference. Sure, there will be great speakers and fireside chats. But the real fun starts after that. F3 is set up with half-days of speakers and incredible content. The other half will be in downtown Chattanooga, and there will be events, networking, and lots of fun for all. This year, Running on Ice subscribers will receive an exclusive promo code for us! You can register with this link or use the code F3ROI24 at checkout for a discount.

The Port of Houston made some scary announcements this week. It is officially authorized to receive and handle shipments for the cold treatment process. This process is crucial for importing fresh produce, as the cold not only keeps produce fresh, but also prevents pests from being introduced into the United States.

“As an established importer and distributor of fresh produce in Houston, having cold processing services in this region is imperative to expanding access to key commodities and sustainable growth,” said Jacquie Ediger, executive vice president of Pro Citrus Network.

The Port of Houston is one of the largest ports in the country. It handles 73% of the U.S. Gulf Coast container traffic and is the second-largest U.S. port in terms of total foreign cargo, worth $240.1 billion annually. The introduction of cold processing will make Houston a strong contender for the role of cold chain center.

Temperature controls

(Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

It was a big week for cold chain giant Lineage Logistics. It announced the pricing of its initial public offering, valued at about $19 billion. Proceeds from the offering are expected to raise between $3.4 billion and $3.9 billion, which will be used to repay debt, fund cash grants to employees and pay transaction costs.

According to Todd Maiden’s article, “The offering includes 47 million shares of common stock and a customary 30-day 15% option (or an additional 7.05 million shares) for underwriters. The company’s shares will be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol ‘LINE.’ The price range has been set at $70 to $82 per share.”

Lineage now holds the title of the largest IPO of 2024, across all sectors. The previous holder of the title was cruise line Viking Holdings, which raised $1.5 billion in its IPO in May. Viking was valued at $10.36 billion.

Food and drugs

(Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Food freshness and shelf life preservation are among the most important elements of the food supply chain. In the United States alone, food waste accounts for 30-40% of the food supply. In an attempt to reduce this figure, Evigence has developed a unique solution to combat this problem with the development of FreshSense.

FreshSense is a freshness management platform featuring new patented sensors with chemistry-enabled QR codes. This new technology has the following benefits and more.

  • Easy-to-understand visual representations of the freshness status of all scanned products with immediate identification of problematic products and the freshest products.
  • Heatmap visualizations of cases and days remaining of actual remaining shelf life.
  • Alerts about potential impacts of regionally and seasonally variable conditions or unexpected disruptions, such as power outages or extreme weather.
  • Comprehensive scan compliance insights to support protocol adherence.

“Our technology will ultimately put an end to the date code as we aim to optimize freshness throughout supply chains, from inventory to retail and even into consumers’ homes. Date codes are woefully inaccurate indicators of food freshness and quality, leading to huge inefficiencies throughout the food industry supply chain,” said Yoav Levy, co-founder and CEO of Evigence.

Cold chain routes

SONAR Tickers: ROTIV.ONT, ROTRI.ONT

This week, the SONAR market is in Southern California, home to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Outbound reefer rejections are up again after falling on July 4. The ROTRI at 12.43% is high, indicating that spot rates are elevated in this market, especially as outbound reefer tender volumes are down. Spot rates are expected to be elevated from the previous week, but rates are expected to be in line with levels earlier in the month leading up to the holidays.

If outbound reefer tender volumes increase and remain elevated through the end of July, it could be a sign that the market is starting to turn as summer approaches and we head into fall and the peak retail season.

Is SONAR right for you? Find out with a demo!

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