Growing populations and evolving food consumption trends continue to drive demand for cold chain warehousing and logistics. Global temperature-controlled warehouse company Lineage Asia-Pacific president, Brooke Miller, writes about the impact that has on the food and beverage supply chain.
Changing population dynamics in Asia-Pacific continue to have significant impacts on the food and beverage supply chain, driving demand for cold chain warehousing and logistics.
In Australia, our growing population is increasingly consuming a greater share of perishable products requiring a stable temperature, meaning there is more demand than ever for high-quality, reliable cold storage and transport in the Australian market.
Source: Lineage
Alongside this, we are seeing a growing population in Asia and the Pacific, which together are home to around 60 per cent of the world’s inhabitants. This population is growing, urbanising, and has a rapidly rising middle class.
Consumption of temperature-controlled foods like meat, dairy, as well as greater varieties of foods, continues to rise. Alongside this, consumers in the region are focused on better quality food, and care more about food sources.
These factors will likely continue to drive the need for more cold storage space in Australia.
Expansion needed
A 2024 report by CBRE said that Australia’s current cold storage facilities must expand significantly in the coming years to meet demand from the food and beverage sector, as well as the pharmaceutical industry.
The report noted Australia has less cold storage per capita than other similar countries – with only 0.4 cubic metres for each urban resident, compared to 0.6 cubic metres in the US. At least 400,000 square metres of new temperature-controlled space will be required by 2028 to put us in line with other comparable nations.
Australia has long been an exporter of food across Asia-Pacific markets, including products that require cold chain storage – such as meat, seafood and dairy. The production and export of food has grown to be a significant economic contributor in Australia, an industry that is only possible with safe and efficient food handling, transportation and storage.
Alongside demand for cold storage warehousing, the ongoing growth in the market for Australia’s food exports is driving a need for efficient and streamlined transport services that can bring this food to the world and help ensure Asia-Pacific’s future food security.
Lineage has continued to grow its existing footprint in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years, with 15 facilities now across Australia spanning the east and west coasts. Supporting Australian food producers with exports to the region has been central to this expansion.
Latest acquisition
Many of our customers in Western Australia export Australian meat and seafood to the Middle East, China, and Southeast Asia. To support the growing local and export market, Lineage last month confirmed its acquisition of Fremantle City Coldstores (FCC), a cold-storage company in Fremantle, Western Australia.
Source: Lineage
The FCC site will strengthen our cold storage network in Western Australia and offers close access and proximity to Fremantle Port, Western Australia’s largest general cargo hub.
This connectivity is particularly important to ensure efficient supply chains that deliver food in the highest quality condition. This site primarily services meat and seafood customers, which require closely interconnected supply chains to take products from their source to the plate.
For example, prawns caught in Western Australia – which is supplied to countries around the world – can be taken straight to a processing facility once caught. There, it’s frozen to maintain freshness, put on to pallets, and prepared for export from the nearest port.
Many of our facilities have on-site blast freezing to streamline this process.
Location also plays a role. Almost half of Lineage’s global network of over 450 facilities are port-centric, to ensure we can consistently help our customers manage their supply chains and keep their product as fresh as possible.
While the prawns are being prepared for export, we ensure all freight forwarding requirements are met, including export paperwork, to streamline the process and minimise the time needed for customs clearance.
While Australia’s free trade agreements support food exports from Australia, there is potential for greater harmonisation of requirements to improve open access and enhance food security. In the meantime, we are leveraging technology to more closely track goods in the cold supply chain.
Lineage has one of the world’s largest global networks of temperature-controlled warehouses. With facilities in 19 countries across North America, the EU, and Asia-Pacific, we are working with our customers every day to solve their supply chain challenges while ensuring the safety and integrity of food products.
Lineage provides customers with end-to-end supply chain solutions and technology, and its global footprint allows us to bring our industry-leading global experience and technology to Asia-Pacific’s increasingly sophisticated cold chains that help feed the region.
The cold chain is a vital element to the export journey of protein products, ensuring that food arrives in the highest quality condition, ready for consumers. This makes it important for Australian exporters to seek out reliable and efficient end-to-end cold chain partners with experience not only in Australia, but across key Asian markets.
