Running on Ice: Volume of temperature-sensitive goods lost to strike unclear

This year’s Future of Freight Festival takes place Nov. 19-21 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But it’s not your average conference. Sure, there are wonderful speakers and fireside chats. But that’s only half the fun. F3 is set up with half days of speakers and amazing content. The other half we take over downtown Chattanooga, and there are events, networking and a lot of fun to be had by all. This year, subscribers to Running on Ice get a promo code exclusive to us! You can register with this link or use the code F3ROI24 at checkout for a discount.

All thawed out

All eyes this week were on the East Coast and Gulf Coast port strike. People were trying to head off possible impacts by scrambling to buy toilet paper, an odd choice since most of it is made domestically.

A tentative deal has been reached, and while the finer details are ironed out both parties have agreed to extend the master contract. FreightWaves’ Stuart Chirls writes, “The new deal, which sources close to the talks said came together quickly, provides a pay raise of 61%, or $4 per hour over each of the six years of the pact, and extends the master contract to Jan. 15, 2025, to allow the sides to negotiate outstanding issues. A final agreement would still have to be ratified by union members.”

It was estimated that for each day of the strike the U.S. economy would lose roughly $5 billion. The full truth of what was lost is yet to be calculated. A few days into the strike, grocers that specialize in imported goods were seeing disruptions to their supply chains and concerned for the quality of their goods waiting for berths on the East Coast.

The effects of the three-day stoppage will take weeks if not months for the ports to process and work through. The amount of lost product is unknown, and the delays will disproportionately affect temperature-sensitive goods and other perishables in the supply chain.

Temperature checks

Nordic Cold Chain recently purchased New York-based Minus Works Inc., among other expansions. Minus Works manufactures eco-friendly gel packs, which can be used as an alternative to traditional single-use packs. With a fair number of shippers concerned about carbon emissions and reducing waste, the fully compostable and leak-proof packs that Minus Works creates are the best of both worlds.

Quoted in a Pennsylvania Business Report article, Andy Bolton, Nordic Cold Chain Solutions CEO, said, “With the acquisition of Minus Works, the new facility in Pottstown, and the expansion in Reno, Nordic is taking exciting steps in our mission to offer sustainable, high-performance cold chain solutions. This move strengthens our ability to reduce environmental impact while delivering exceptional products and services to our customers.”

Food and drug

Doubling down on fun nuggets, this year Tyson has chosen another theme for its beloved nuggies – one that doesn’t involve a Razorback. The chicken nugget manufacturer is leaning into spooky season with its very own Spooky Nuggets. Pumpkins, ghosts and bats are this year’s shapes.

Quoted in a news release was Jessica Johnson, managing director at Tyson Foods: “When we launched Spooky Nuggets last year, we were blown away by consumers’ excitement for our newest shape from our Fun Nugget lineup. This year, we knew we had to go bigger than before, so we are excited to have these on shelves coast-to-coast so even more consumers can have a savory treat this spooky season.”

The nuggets are a while-supplies-last situation, so get them while they’re cold! 

Cold chain lanes

This week’s cool market is home of the Windy City, none other than Chicago. Reefer volumes have seen a capacity crunch recently: Outbound reefer rejection rates have sharply risen, going from 11.74% to 16.06% in the past week for a 491-basis-point increase week over week. While reefer rejection rates were rising, reefer outbound tender volumes have taken a much slower approach. Reefer outbond tender volumes have risen 1.45% w/w, hardly keeping up with reefer rejection rates. Rejection rates at 16% indicate some inflationary pressures in the spot market. Rates should be higher out of Chicago than other parts of the country. Don’t expect rates to come down till rejection rates are solidly under 10%. 

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Shelf life

UPS opens temperature-controlled facility in Hyderabad for pharma industry 

Tower launches customer sustainability hub with practical tools for lower-impact pharmaceutical cold chain

A frosty fright: Wendy’s new kids’ meal celebrates spooky and sweet halloween icons

Mart Frozen Foods opens $65M potato facility in southern Idaho

Analysis: Biden, ILA score wins in port strike, but larger issues remain

Wanna chat in the cooler? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at moconnell@www.freightwaves.com.

See you on the internet.

Mary

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