b'4American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comCold-storage industry facesPerformance TeamA Maersk workforce issues, inflationary pressure company announces plans for Americold, the largest player, managed to recover increased costs,new cold chain facility in NJbut food production has yet to return to normal. Adds more capacity and services to North-east cold chains serving the 20 million con-By Peter Buxbaum, AJOT sumer metropolitan area marketThe COVID-19 pandemichavetherightamountofbroughtaboutbythewarinPerformanceTeamAthemetropolitanarea,said prompted a reshuffling of thestaffing in your facility, youUkraine.Toaddressthat,theMaersk Company continuesJason Walker, Executive Vice national workforce, and con- cant operate normally. Pre- companyhasimplementedto expand and integrate end- President of Operations at Per-tinuingwavesoftheviruspandemic,thefoodindustryutility surcharges on custom- to-endcoldchainswiththeformanceTeam- AMaersk have left many employers intendedtostockthepipelineers at impacted facilities. announcement of a new coldCompany. the United States dealing withwithfourtosixweeksofstoragefacilityinDayton,End-to-endsupplychain chronic absenteeism problems.inventory, according to Chap- W arehouser evenuer ises New Jersey opening in Octo- solutions are created by Maersks Thetemperature-controlledpelle, which is not a ton. ItThecompanyhasalsober2022toserveimportsOcean services calling APM logisticsindustryfacesawasnt like inventories weremoved to increase rents andand exports. TerminalsElizabeth,New doublewhammywhenitbloated to begin with. storagefees.Around30%Were adding more coldJersey that can be integrated comes to labor management:Next to labor costs, powerofAmericoldswarehousechaincapacitytoservethewithMaerskCustomsSer-withtheirownworkforcesrepresents Americolds secondrevenue comes from smallerNewYork/NewJerseymet- vices,USAInc.customs and with those of their cus- largestexpense.Duringthecustomers, where pricing canropolitanareademand. ThisclearanceexpertiseandPer-tomers in the food industry. first quarter of 2022, the com- be adjusted with a 30-day tointegrateswithMaersksformance TeamA Maersk Those same issues relate topanyspowercostsincreased45-daynotice,while70%Ocean Services and their firstCompanys60+warehouses yet another industry dilemma.by18%year-over-year,withcomes from its top 100 cus- port of call in Elizabeth, NJandTransportationservices Labor problems play into theincreases seen in Europe moretomers.Amongthose,halfandtheconsumptionpatterns-designedtoservestor-inflationarypressuresmanysothaninNorthAmerica(ISSUEScontinued ongeneratedbythe20million(PLANScontinued on companiesaredealingwiththanks to energy-cost increasespage 6) consumerswholivewithinpage 10)and, particularly in the food industries, contributes to severe operational inefficiencies.Americold,thelargest TCL player in North America, was staffed with around 70% permanent employees versus 30%temporaryemployees prior to mid-2021. By the end of last year, that ratio stood at around 60:40. In the first quarterof2022,Americold managed to bump the propor-tion of permanent employees up to 65%, but that was still wellbelowthecompanys preferred ratio of 80%. Whilerelyingontem-porary labor during 2021, we were less productive and less efficient, and we know it neg-ativelyimpactedcustomer service,saidAmericolds CEO George Chappelle. I do not think this is an Americold specificissue.Ibelievethis impactedallcompaniesin the services industry that are dependent on skilled labor.Americoldscustomersin thefoodindustryarealso experiencinglaborproblems, whichmeansthattheyare producingless,saidChap-pelle, despite strong consumer demand for their products. Fill rates at the retail level have plummeted to as low as 70% in an industry where 98.5% is the usual benchmark.End-consumerdemand fortemperature-controlledfood remainsstrong,saidChap-pelle,butCOVID-related supply chain and labor disrup-tionscontinuetoimpactthe global food supply chain. Duringthefirstmonths of 2022, Americolds custom-ers faced production problems as COVIDs Omicron variant infectedmanyworkers.But evenafterOmicronreceded, thelabormarketremained challenged, straining the ability of the food-service industry to produce at pre-COVID levels.AllthecustomersIve talkedtohavesaidtheyre operatinginefficiently,said Chappelle. When you dont'