When we made our annual predictions for the logistics industry in January, there were some trends that we were confident would happen, but with so much changing in our industry, it was hard to know exactly what some of them would look like.
The trend related to refrigerated/frozen warehousing and transportation being on the rise was one of those. Ultimately, we were correct in assessing the need for more refrigeration/frozen options. These needs became a major issue throughout the supply chain from warehousing to final mile delivery.
Even in April 2021, the projections were that the refrigeration industry was going to explode, largely due to fallout from COVID. According to Kidder.com, “The COVID-19 experience highlighted the critical importance of cold storage to our national food supply chain. The pandemic reinforced the importance of having a secure, dependable national food supply over global food reserves. Online grocery shopping will continue to grow, doubling in volume to more than $180 billion over just the next three to five years.”
Logistics Management also tackled this topic in August 2021. In this article, the organization highlights comments from several CLDA members who talk about how COVID has revolutionized how restaurants, grocery stores, and other food providers serve their customers. The focus is now on home delivery and curbside pickup.
Even as many restrictions have eased, customers are continuing many of the quarantine habits as they enjoy home grocery delivery, etc. This has made logistics providers, from those who deliver to the food providers to those who serve customers, re-evaluate how they operate. Also, transportation fleets have expanded both in size and in the type of vehicles necessary to make the deliveries.
We think this growth trend will continue and hope to see it expand across the world. It will hopefully ease some of the woes from food waste as many countries still suffer from a lack of appropriate food storage.