Port of New Orleans and Lineage Logistics to build $42 million cold-storage facility

The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) and Lineage Logistics have announced they will build a new $42 million expansion of its Jourdan Road cold-storage facility in New Orleans East.

In a statement, the Port said one of two major Lineage facilities at the hub will grow from 160,000sqf to 304,000sqf. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in an additional 56 new indirect jobs.

To secure the expansion project, the State of Louisiana is providing $10 million in capital outlay funds, while the Port of New Orleans is providing $2 million and Lineage Logistics is investing the remaining $30 million in capital for the cold-storage project.

The company also is expected to utilize Louisiana’s Quality Jobs Program.

Port NOLA President and CEO Brandy Christian said the hub was “elated to see this project move forward.”

“Poultry exports have traditionally been a strong segment of our cargo portfolio and due to worldwide demand, we see poultry and other temperature-sensitive cargoes as critical to Port NOLA’s future.”

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards described the project as “a boon for the City of New Orleans” and the entire state.

“The value-added exports of Lineage Logistics will continue to strengthen Louisiana’s $1.6 billion poultry industry, including nearly 300 commercial broiler producers throughout 11 parishes,” Edwards said.

“We welcome this significant new investment and its economic impact across Louisiana.”

Shipments from the existing and expanding cold-storage facilities of Lineage Logistics draw upon multiple Louisiana poultry producers, including hatcheries, feed mills, broiler complexes and processing plants.

In 2020, Lineage facilities in New Orleans partnered with the Port of New Orleans to export 380,000 tons of poultry to global markets. The expansion will support imports of fresh produce as well, the Port said.

Mike McClendon, Lineage’s president of International Operations and executive vice president of Network Optimization, also commented, “This expansion is critical, due to increasing worldwide demand for U.S. poultry, primarily from Angola, Cuba, Hong Kong, Mexico and Taiwan.

“Lineage and Port NOLA have worked closely on this project to accommodate growing volumes and new lines of export agriculture commodities, and a growing trade of fresh produce imports.”

Lineage Logistics has the largest network of temperature-controlled warehouses globally, with more than 340 strategically located facilities offering over 2.1 billion cubic feet of capacity and spanning 15 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America.

In New Orleans, the company operates two cold-storage and blast-freeze facilities that have the capacity to blast-freeze 2.8 million pounds of product to zero degrees in 24 hours.

In 2020, Lineage acquired New Orleans Cold Storage as part of its acquisition of Emergent Cold.

The port and New Orleans Cold Storage opened a new 140,000-square-foot, blast-freeze facility in 2012 at the Henry Clay Avenue Wharf upriver, adding 1.25 million pounds of daily blast-freeze capacity and 38 million pounds of storage capacity for frozen goods. That capacity is in addition to the Jourdan Road site.

https://www.porttechnology.org/news/port-of-new-orleans-and-lineage-logistics-to-build-42-million-cold-storage-facility/