b'34American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comEnstructure says Chiquita dealCold storage construction a sign of things to come atslowing downPort Wilmington (DE)Speculativecoldstorageconstructionslowing.Even-The Chiquita deal is a positive step for the Port Wilmington DEtual building rebound could take some time.and Enstructure.By Andrew Meadows, AJOTBy Andrew Meadows, AJOTThe post-pandemic boom of specula- while 19 speculative cold storage (SCS) Two years after taking over the man- tral and South America perishable cargotive cold storage facilities is slowing to aprojects totaling 5.2 million square feet agement of Port Wilmington (DE), U.S.is traditionally from November to April.crawl but dont expect the market to staywere built in 2022 and 2023 combined, terminaloperatorEnstructuresaysitisHogans said 2024-2025 was a very strongdown. only five were completed in 2024, totaling happywiththedirectionofthefacilityseason and included bananas, MoroccanThe overall growth of the cold chain1.1 million square feet. Another 2.2 mil-and forecasts growth not only in perish- clementines, Chilean grapes and variouswill bring investors back, but it could takelion square feet of SCS space is expected ables but other cargoes as well.stonefruit.PortWilmingtonnormallyacoupleofyears,saidCraigHurvitz,to be completed in 2025. This remains a The Wellesley, MA-based companyreceivesmorethan16millioncasesofDirector, National Industrial Research atsmallfractionofthenationalindustrial pointstoaJunemulti-yearagreementfresh Chilean fruit annually. Colliers,inarecentinterviewwiththepipeline. At the end of 2024, 295 million withChiquitaBrandsInternationalthatThe port is coming off a very strongAmerican Journal of Transportation. square feet of industrial construction was will keep the banana giant in WilmingtonseasonforperishablecargoesthathasIn general, interest in the asset classunderway.as the most recent big win.providedaverygoodincreaseinmancontinues to grow, and new players wantCollierssaidkeyplayersSaxum, SigningChiquitatoamulti-yearhours, Hogans said adding warehousingtogetinvolved,butatthismomentinRLCold,KarisCold,BGO,andCold agreement here in the Port of Wilmingtonhours are up 58% and stevedoring hourstime, its primarily driven by build-to-suitSummit,alongwithpublicrefrigerated says a lot about Chiquitas commitment,up 25% in part to perishable traffic.opportunities,similartocoreindustrialwarehouse(PRW)giantsAmericold not only here to the Port of Wilmington,HoganssaidAgileColdStoragesdevelopment,Hurvitzsaid. AnincreaseandLineage,haveledcoldstorage but also to Enstructure,new275,000squarein 2025 is due to the active projects still indevelopment nationwide in recent years, the State of Delaware,foot, multi-temperaturethepipeline.Speculativecoldstorageiswithmostfacilitiesrangingbetween the ILA and that part- warehouse12milesprojected to slow down in 2026 and 2027.200,000 and 350,000 square feet. nershipforthefutureaway in Claymont is anIn developed countries across the globe,According to Grand View Research, heresoyeah,wereexampleofagrowingcold storage growth exploded over the pastdespite a slowdown due to rising interest really excited about it,infrastructure cluster todecade.Thesurgehasbeenfueledbyratesandeconomicuncertainty,global saidBayardHogans,supporttheimportofdemand for modern, efficient spaces coupledcoldstorage-valuedat$160billion RegionalPresidenttemperature-sensitivewith low interest rates. Colliers reported thecurrentlyisprojectedtoincreaseat oftheMid-Atlanticgoods.Thefacilityaverage age of cold storage buildings in theaCAGRof18.1%from2025to2030 forEnstructure,inaisinadditiontothenations top markets is 31 years old. driven,inpart,togrowingorganized recentinterviewwithports existing 800,000Justlikethestandardindustrial/ retail sectors in developing countries. theAmericanJour- squarefeetofdockwarehouse market, when things get hot soMoreover,risingautomationin nalofTransportationside cold storage in sixdo speculative builds. refrigeratedwarehousesisprojectedto (AJOT).Werecon- warehouses, making theboostdemandfurther.Warehouseauto-tinuingtomakeinvest- Wilmington port one ofr ecenTm arkeTa nalysis mationincludescloudtechnology,con-mentsintheporttothelargestrefrigeratedIn a recent market analysis by Col- veyor belts, robots, energy management, support not only Chiq- warehouse terminals inliers, Hurvitz and colleague Justin Smutko,andtruck-loadingautomation.Refriger-uitasbusiness,butBayard Hogans, Regional Presidentthe United States. a Colliers Executive Vice President, said(SLOWINGcontinued on page 37)otherperishablecar- of the Mid-Atlantic for Enstructure Itcontinuesto goes and also diversifyprovidecapacityin theportintoothernon-perishablecar- this region not only for perishable cargoes but goes. also frozen cargoes, Hogans said. Theres beensomereallygooddevelopment, e nsTrucTure andP orT distributionfulfillmentdevelopment w ilmingTon reallyIwouldsayifyoulookatthe In June 2023, Enstructure assumedcorridor from Northern Delaware, Northeast managementofPortWilmingtonfromMaryland,SouthCentral,NewJersey longtimeoperatorGulftainer.PortandrightupthroughtheAllentown, Wilmington,locatedattheconfluencePennsylvania. [This]area is really one of of the Christina and Delaware Rivers, isthe fastest growing distribution fulfillment owned by the Diamond State Port Corpareas, probably in our nation. And with (DSPC),aquasi-stateagencywhosethat we will continue to have refrigerated boardmembersareappointedbythedevelopment in this area to support this Governor of Delaware.long-standing perishable business on the (Enstructure)isveryhappyaboutDelaware River.our partnership here at Port Wilmington with the State of Delaware and with thed elawarec onTainerT erminalILA here. We want to invest in the infra- Inthefuture,PortWilmingtonand structure: we want to be a good partner tothe new Delaware Container Terminal in the state of Delaware, to the DSPC andEdgemoor will be poised to take advan-to labor here with investing in the facil- tageofgrowthinthelifesciences/ity,Hoganssaid.Wewanttorespectpharma sector which demands a world-and grow the perishable cargoes that haveclass cold chain, Hogans said.been here historically, and separately wePotentiallywecouldhandlethat alsowanttocontinuetodiversifythe[pharma/life science business]. [And even] port with some additional year-round car- more so in the future with the development goes for the port and grow that as part ofof Delaware Container Terminal we would Enstructures larger network of terminalsprobably start expanding into some of those and those relationships that we bring hereothertemperature-controlledcommodities. toDelawareintoWilmingtonwhetherBut we definitely could handle those today its forest products, auto Ro/Ro, or otherand theyre on our radar for the Delaware breakbulk commodities.Container Terminal in the future, he said. The recent Chiquita announcementAccording to a presentation Hogans onlysolidifiesWilmingtonasgroundgave to the DSPC last month, construction zeroforbananaimportsfromCentralon the $635 million Delaware Container and South America. Last year Dole FoodTerminal in Edgemoor, just north of the Companys Mayan Express deployed ancurrent port on a vacant industrial site, is additional1,200FEUcontainervesselscheduled for May 2025 with completion betweenColombia,Honduras,andinOctober2028.Hesaidacoupleof Guatemala and Wilmington.major recent developments on the project In total, Dole and Chiquita handle moreincludethedemolitionofoutdated than 1 million tons of bananas annuallybuildings at the site as well as the hiring through Wilmington. Both companies useofajointventurebetweenWalshand the port as their mid-Atlantic distributionSoletancheBachytodoaprogressive hub importing bananas and other tropicaldesign build. fruittosupply200millionU.S.andHoganssaidinterestedpartiesare Canadian consumers. workingwiththeU.S.ArmyCorpsof Engineers to resolve permitting issues that P eaks eason held up the project in October when a U.S. Wilmingtons peak season for Cen- (SIGNcontinued on page 37)'