b'18American Journal of Transportation ajot.com(UNCERTAINTYcontinued fromwill increase the blast freezing capabilitygrowbyasmuchas10%tosupport page 16) at the Port of Mobile by 30 truckloads perdirectdeliveriesandrapidreplenish-TCL providers are being challengedday and 40,000 racked pallet positions ofment,accordingtothePrologisreport. bysupply-chaindisruptionsandsurges,storage, making the MTC facility one ofThat would generate demand for as much butalsobytheuncertaintysurroundingthe largest of its kind in the Southeast.as 600 million square feet of additional planning. While the future remains cloudy,Theuncertaintiesandchallengeslogisticsrealestateoverthenextthree manyintheindustryseethegrowthoffacingtheindustrywerereflectedinayears, with the groceries sector being one direct-to-consumer deliveries as a poten- recently-published survey by the Globalof the prime beneficiaries. tial big winner in the post-pandemic world. ColdChainAlliance(GCCA).TheWe expect that lessons learned from Forcold-chainlogisticsprovid- research found that 50% of cold-chain par- thepandemic,thereportconcluded, ers,COVID-19createdshortandlongticipants saw supply chain disruptions willadddemandtailwindstologistics termopportunitiesandchallenges.Eastsuch as keeping up with demand surges,real estate in the new normal.CoastWarehouse,whichoperatestem- slowdowns in service, and production andRespondents in the GCCA study also perature-controlled facilities in Elizabethmanufacturing challengesas the biggestbelieve the next six months may look sim-and Philadelphia as well as port drayagebusiness challenge to result from COVID.ilar to the past few months, indicating they services through Safeway Trucking, hasOver half the studys respondents experi- dont expect a particularly steep recovery. seenshort-termwarehouseoperationsenced decreases in revenue compared toFrom a business standpoint, perhaps the benefit as inventories expanded, but out- pre-pandemic expectations and approxi- worstconsequenceofthepandemicis bound transportation flatten as consumermately 80% indicated increased costs. theuncertaintyithasgenerated.What demand slowed.About three quarters of respondentsand where the world eats may vary in the As we look ahead to the second halfto the GCCA survey said the aftermath ofwake of the COVID-19 pandemic, saidFred Boehler, CEO ofAmeriCold logisticsof 2020, said Jamie Overley, the compa- the pandemic will cause increased growthFred Boehler, CEO of the Atlanta-based nys CEO, we expect much will dependin direct-to-consumer delivery of chilledAmeriCold Logistics, LLC. outbound transportation may improve as onconsumerdemandandthepaceofand frozen products. E-commerce couldAsbusinessesandsocietyreopen,shipments increase. recovery as the peak season of Octoberbe a major beneficiary of the post-pan- allarehopingforthebest,butlogis- Overley sees future risk in the cold-through December approaches. demic cold-chain industry, a conclusiontics planners need more to go on thanchain logistics space being driven by ver-alsoborneoutbyarecentreportfromthat, yet data is still scarce. Warehouseticalsuch as beer, water, confectionery, Prologis, Inc. operationsmaytightenasinventoryandfoodandbysegment.Wemay declines, said East Coasts CEO Jamiealso experience a soft start in 2021, he e- CommerCe Overley.Inboundtransportationmaywarned,dependingonthestateofthe U.S.e-commerceinventoriescouldsoften as inventory levels stabilize, whilepandemic at that time.jamie Overley, CEO, East Coast WarehouseLike East Coast Warehouse, a surge in demand was also experienced by Lin-eage Logistics. In March, Lineage hired 1,000newemployeestomeetdemand globally and expected that another 1,000 would be required within a few months.We are responding to surges in cus-tomer demand and to keep grocery stores stocked, said Greg Lehmkuhl, the com-panys president and CEO. Lineagealsorecentlyaddedtoits temperature-controlledlogisticscapa-bilities with the acquisition of Emergent Cold. That transaction added 1.9 billion cubic feet and 53 million square feet of capacityin12countriesacrossNorth America,South America,Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as distribution centers in Dallas-Fort Worth and at the ports of New Orleans, Houston, and Charleston.Greg lehmkuhl, lineage logisticss president & CEOOne TCL providers customers want it to accelerate the opening of new cold-chain infrastructure. MTC Logistics is in the process of developing a new refriger-ated cargo facility at the Port of Mobile, part of a $61 million investment. The feedback from processors in the Southeast and our international import cus-tomers has been extremely positive, said Andy Janson, president of MTC Logistics. Mostly we hear, Hurry up and open.Whencompleted,thenewfacility, slatedtobecompletedearlynextyear,'