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Americold opens $100M food hub in Kansas City

Rail partner CPKC will serve the import-export facility

Todd Maiden
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Americold recently announced the ground breaking of a new hub at Port Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada, which will also be served by CPKC. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)
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Key Takeaways:

  • Americold and CPKC opened a $100+ million, 335,000 sq ft import-export cold storage hub in Kansas City, MO.
  • The facility offers direct rail access, USDA inspections, and will create 190 jobs, streamlining food distribution within a 300-mile radius.
  • This is Americold's first location on the CPKC line and a key part of their strategy to build a network of import/export hubs.
  • The hub is designed to improve the efficiency of temperature-controlled food shipments between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
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Cold storage provider Americold announced Tuesday that is has opened a 335,000-square-foot import-export hub in Kansas City, Missouri. The company partnered with Class I railroad Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) to develop the $100-million-plus facility.

The new site can handle containers exceeding 50,000 pounds and will provide USDA inspections to circumvent potential border delays. The location will directly cover a 300-mile radius for food storage and distribution and act as a consolidation point for long-haul shipments.

This is Americold’s (NYSE: COLD) first location on the CPKC (NYSE: CP) line. The site is touted as a key hub for CPKC’s single-line rail service for temperature-controlled shipments between the U.S. and Mexico.

“This is more than infrastructure – it’s a fully integrated solution that connects food producers to consumers faster and more efficiently,” said Americold CEO George Chappelle in a news release. “Simply put, we’ve unlocked a better way to move food.”

The new hub is expected to create 190 jobs in Kansas City.

Photo: A ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new facility in Kansas City (Credit: CPKC)

“With direct rail connectivity through CPKC and a talented local workforce, this new facility highlights how strategic partnerships can reshape industries and accelerate innovation,” said Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Quinton Lucas. “We’re excited to be at the center of that transformation.”

Americold said the new location is part of a larger plan to open a network of import-export hubs through strategic partnerships with the goal to “improve how food moves from origin to destination.”

The company announced in May that it began construction on its first import-export hub in Canada. The location at Port Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada will be served by CPKC and global ports operator DP World.

“This facility is the first of many across our unrivaled North American network,” said CPKC President and CEO Keith Creel. “By combining Americold with our secure, single-line cross-border service, we have created a new refrigerated supply chain for our customers shipping food and other temperature-controlled products across Canada, the United States and Mexico.”

Americold’s portfolio includes 1.4 billion cubic feet of refrigerated space at 235 facilities throughout North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and South America.

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More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

Todd Maiden

Based in Richmond, VA, Todd is the finance editor at FreightWaves. Prior to joining FreightWaves, he covered the TLs, LTLs, railroads and brokers for RBC Capital Markets and BB&T Capital Markets. Todd began his career in banking and finance before moving over to transportation equity research where he provided stock recommendations for publicly traded transportation companies.