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4A THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com MARCH 2015 EDITORIAL JOC GROUP INC. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GAVIN CARTER Cool Cargoes Editor LARA L. SOWINSKI Chief Operating Officer, JOC Group RHIANNON JAMES Executive Vice President/Chief Content Officer, JOC Group PETER TIRSCHWELL JOC Executive Editor CHRIS BROOKS Managing Editor BARBARA WYKER Senior Designer SUE ABT PUBLISHER TONY STEIN 770.295.8809 SALES CINDY CRONIN, Strategic Account Manager Southeast, Gulf,Canada sales 954.551.8305 ZACHARY GORMAN, Account Executive Northeast sales, Classifieds/Reprints/Copyrights 973.776.7820 JENNIFER MALLINGER, Account Executive Midwest, West Coast sales 630.210.6827 RIA VAN DEN BOGAERT, Sales Representative Europe, Middle East sales +32 2 569 8905 BON KWOK, Sales Representative Asia sales +852 31707373 MICHIHIRO KAWAHARA, Sales Representative Japan sales +81 3 3212 3671 For Magazine Subscription Customer Service: www.joc.com/help 2 Penn Plaza East, 12th Floor Newark, N.J. 07105 973.776.8660 • 800.952.3839 A Cold Chain Breakthrough T HE PAST FEW years were tough for transportation providers in the cold chain. Most major ocean carriers were in the midst of recovery, trying to restore balanced capacity and improve rates. Their investments in reefer equipment fell sharply or stopped altogether. Specialized carriers watched their market share erode further as customers migrated to container carriers. And air carriers were fighting off lingering effects brought about by the global economic slowdown while working to stay com- petitive in the cold chain. On the rail side, 2014 saw the elimination of McKay Transcold and Cold Train — two services targeting temper- ature-controlled perishable shipments. Truckers, meanwhile, face ongoing issues ranging from chronic driver shortages to the impact of state and federal regulations, which ultimately affect those offering refrigerated transportation service. Interestingly, the cold storage market kept humming during the recent lull while global demand for perishable products, particularly food and pharmaceuticals, also rose. The International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses reports that global cold storage capacity jumped 20 percent from 2012 to 2014. Every region of the world is adding capacity, while India stands out for surpass- ing the U.S. as the country offering the most cold storage capacity — currently 130 million cubic meters compared with 115 million cubic meters in the U.S. Perishable imports and exports also are growing worldwide. Demand in emerging markets for more meat and dairy is one driver, while pharmaceuticals are also a major contributor. At its core, the cold chain industry is strong. Better yet, the challenges trans- portation providers have faced during the past few years are thawing out, and there's an undeniable optimism in the air. Spending on refrigerated equipment, cold chain-related software and technology, and services are picking up, and this year is off to a stronger start. This month marks the 15th Annual JOC TPM Conference and the fourth Cool Cargoes track, which runs concurrently with the conference. The 2015 Cool Car- goes program is chock-full of interesting topics and industry experts representing various segments of the cold chain. We're eager to hear from them, meet new colleagues and get reinvigorated for the future. Stay cool. — Lara L. Sowinski The challenges faced by transportation providers during the past few years are thawing out, and there's an undeniable optimism in the air.