Cold Chain Logistics Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report, by End-use Industry, Business Type : Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030

Cold Chain Logistics Market Statistics, 2030 

The global cold chain logistics market was valued at $202.17 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $782.27 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 14.6% from 2021 to 2030.

Factors such as an increase in the number of refrigerated warehouses and growth in the pharmaceutical sector are expected to drive the growth of the market. In addition, growth in the processed food sector is anticipated to boost the market growth. However, factors such as lack of standardization and high operational cost restrain the market growth. On the contrary , radiofrequency identification technology (RFID) technology for cold chain applications and the adoption of software for cold chain logistics provide lucrative growth opportunities for the market players.

Cold chain logistics is the technology and process that allows safe transport of temperature-sensitive goods and products such as fresh agricultural products, seafood, frozen food, photographic film, chemicals, and pharmaceutical drugs along with the supply chain. It impacts every stage of the supply chain, from purchase to transportation,  storage, and last-mile delivery. The transportation modes for product supply include refrigerated trucks, refrigerated railcars, refrigerated cargo, and air cargo. The process further involves utilization of temperature-controlled warehouses for storage and cold-insulated transport vehicles for product distribution. Furthermore, cold chains are essential for extending marketing, preventing over capacity, reducing transport bottlenecks during peak period, and maintaining product quality.

In addition to providing quality and safe products to consumers, cold supply chain logistics largely contributes to the economy and workforce. Quality products led to higher demand and contribute to economic growth. Moreover, it plays an essential role in reducing the wastage of perishable products & commodities, thus providing remunerative prices to farmers. In India, new initiatives such as a planned infrastructure investment of around INR 100 lakh crore boost the rural economy, and has put the food processing sector on a high growth trajectory, which, in turn,  has increased the demand for cold chain logistics in the processed food sector.

In addition, implementation of technology in cold chain logistics delivers modern warehouse management by using modern heavy-duty refrigeration systems that help maintain proper temperature during transportation & storage of goods. The adoption of innovative IoT-based automated software for cold chain management provides live data to operators, thus allowing unmatched visibility into every process and transaction within cold chain logistics. Operators can connect to intermodal shipping containers, cargo, vessels, and trailers with enterprise IT systems via sensors, GPS, mobile networks, and cloud-based platform. 

The global cold chain logistics market is segmented on the basis of end-use industry, business type, and region. Depending on the end-use industry, the market is segregated into fruits & vegetables; bakery & confectionary; dairy & frozen desserts; meat, fish & seafood; drugs & pharmaceuticals and others. By business type, it is segmented into warehousing and transportation. By transportation, it is sub-segmented into railways, airways, roadways, and waterways. Region wise, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

Factors such as rapid frozen food production and need of refrigerated storage in pharmaceutical industry is anticipated to boost the growth of the cold chain logistics market in Asia-Pacific region. In addition, continues development of refrigerated warehouse for temperature-sensitive goods fuel the growth of the market in Asia-Pacific.

After several years of rapid expansion, growth in the Chinese refrigerated warehouse industry has leveled off, according to industry sources. Further, rapid increase of China's frozen food production in recent years and problems relating to food preservation and safety are anticipated to boost the growth of the cold chain logistics market in China.

North America region comprises the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. The U.S. holds the maximum share of cold  chain logistics market in North America. The U.S. tops the nations in terms of revenue followed by Mexico and Canada. In North America, government implemented transparent policies with technical regulations, and standards for assessment of quality and its consistency. In addition, Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. measures over the stability of the cold chain incited many of the key players. From 2011 to 2017, the number of heat-sensitive healthcare products has increased by 45%, around 50% of the pharmaceutical products are shipped via the cold chain. In 2018, global sales of biotechnology medicines and biological products were estimated at more than 300 billion dollars. These high-value pharmaceutical products are mostly shipped via the cold chain across the entire distribution network worldwide. Overall, the cold chain logistics industry holds remarkable opportunities for the key players operating in the market throughout the forecast period.

Key Developments

• In December 2021, Tippmann Group expanded its IN Cold storage warehouse facility in Anderson, Indiana to bring total facility size to more than 400,000 square feet with 24,000 pallet positions being added to offer better storage capacity & distribution solutions to customers.
• In October 2020, Americold Logistics, LLC acquired Agro Merchants Group, fourth-largest cold storage provider to expand the scale & geographical reach of organization into Europe & other complementary locations in U.S., South America, and Australia.
• In October 2020, United States Cold Storage announced a strategic partnership with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to demonstrates environmental leaderships & corporate responsibility to assess the energy efficiency of goods movement supply chains.
• In September 2020, Lineage Logistics Holding, LLC significantly expanded its warehouse capacity with 92,000-pallet-position automated cold storage warehouse in the UK to serve both retail & foodservice customers with unique supply chain requirements to enable maximum flexibility & customized solutions for customers.

The key players operating in the global market are Americold Logistics, LLC, Burris Logistics, Cold Box, Conestoga Cold Storage, Congebec, Lineage Logistics Holding, LLC, Nichirei Corporation, Tippmann Group, United States Cold Storage, and VersaCold Logistics Services.

Increase in Refrigerated Warehouses

Warehouse is a large storage area for storing goods. Dozens of cold chain systems warehouses are intended to provide temperature-sensitive products with ideal storage and transportation conditions .. Owing to the fluctuating market demand for products, the need to store goods has increased necessitating the need for a warehouse.. Businesses invest millions of dollars in their cold chain operations to create effective, efficient, and reliable processes, as  end-to-end cold chain security is the weak link in the system. The introduction of refrigerated warehouses significantly satisfies the manufacturers of these temperature-sensitive products.

In Vietnam, owing to the rise in the middle-class population, the food processing industry has grown in recent years. In 2019, the food and pharmaceutical markets, which require refrigerated transport in the Vietnamese retail market, were estimated to grow to about $10 billion in 2020 as per the Euromonitor study. Furthermore, in 2021, Lineage Logistics Holding, LLC announced the strategic expansion of its facility network near the major port in Savannah, Georgia, that provides additional capacity for imported and exported frozen and refrigerated products. Thus, an increase in refrigerated warehouses fuels the growth of the market.

Growth in the Pharmaceutical Sector

Pharmaceutical manufacturers focus on product quality and sensitivity. Factors such as the development of complex biological-based medicines, shipments of hormone treatments, vaccines, and complex proteins that require cold chain refinements result in the need for temperature-controlled transportation and warehousing. Moreover, the demand for effective cold chain logistics services to maintain the quality of goods fuels the market growth. In addition, cold chain, supply chain, and logistics for the pharmaceutical industry are becoming more strategic and reliable. Since the vaccinations for COVID-19 have already been given during the global pandemic outbreak, cold chain logistics for pharmaceutical products necessitates a robust cold chain with specific quality assurance criteria.. In 2018, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated 6%increase in cold chain logistics for pharmaceutical industry by 2021, reaching $396 billion in global biopharma sales. Accordingly, logistics companies and airlines specializing in pharma transportation offer services that match the higher demands. Hence, high-value pharmaceutical products transportation solutions across the entire distribution network drive worldwide growth.

Lack of Standardization

Cold chain logistics and storage demand comes from many sources with specific needs. Lack of standards and accreditations poses significant challenges to the cold chain industry, concerning the  quality and flexibility of available cold warehousing space. In many cases, companies have to invest further to upgrade the area and its specifications to the standards that support the individual industry segment and their operations. The standards formulated by the policymakers build pressure on developers. Upgrading the facility in temperature compliance or accommodating automated equipment is not easy. Training and development of manpower on technology and handling products involve heavy capital involvement, and it remains the necessity of industry from time to time. Thus, lack of standardization in cold chain logistics is anticipated to hamper the market growth.

RFID Technology for Cold Chain Applications

Increase in online groceries escalated the need for larger warehouses to promote agility and resilience. Thus, the use of RFID technology in cold chains improved the performance of perishable supply chains by allowing the device to track the geographical location of individual packages, pallets, shipping containers, or trucks, which can be stationary or moving during distribution. These technologies are used to identify items through a unique electronic product code (EPC) or other barcode and store real-time environmental data (including temperature), which is later transmitted, allowing corrective actions to be taken before products are irrevocably damaged. At present, RFID technology is bringing a massive change to cold chain refinement management by identifying the advantages of long distance, fast, not easy to damage, large capacity, simplifying complicated workflow, and effectively improving management efficiency and business transparency. Furthermore, Asia-Pacific is projected to witness the fastest growth in the adoption of RFID technology in the cold chain market during the forecast period, owing to the growing F&B retail sector in the countries such as China, India, and Australia. Hence, increase in demand for real-time temperature monitoring in cold chain logistics is expected to boost the growth of the cold chain RFID market.

Covid-19 Impact Analysis

• The COVID-19 crisis is creating uncertainty in the market by slowing down the logistics services, thus hampering business growth and increasing panic among the customer segments.
• The governments across different regions announced total lockdown and temporarily shut down of industries,  leading to the border closures that restricted the movement of transportation & logistics services.
• The global business outlook has changed dramatically post COVID-19 health crisis.
• Moreover, the overall service activities of market players have declined owing to drastic fall of demand for cash usage to prevent the risk of contamination.
• As per current scenario, overall world is getting back on track slowly with the new restrictions and policies a significant recovery in product sales across the retail sector may assert a positive influence on the market to support the economic activities across all industries.

Key Benefits For Stakeholders

• This study presents the analytical depiction of the global cold chain logistics market analysis along with the current trends and future estimations to depict imminent investment pockets.
• The overall market opportunity is determined by understanding profitable trends to gain a stronger foothold.
• The report presents information related to the key drivers, restraints, and opportunities of the market with a detailed impact analysis.
• The current market is quantitatively analyzed from 2020 to 2030 to benchmark the financial competency.
• The Porter’s five forces analysis illustrates the potency of the buyers and suppliers in the industry.

  Cold Chain Logistics Market Report Highlights

Aspects	Details
By Region	North America  (U.S., Canada, Mexico) Europe  (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Rest of Europe) Asia-Pacific  (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Rest of Asia-Pacific) LAMEA  (Latin America, Middle East, Africa)
By Key Market Players	Americold Logistics, LLC Burris Logistics Cold Box Conestoga Cold Storage Congebec Lineage Logistics Holding, LLC Nichirei Corporation Tippmann Group United States Cold Storage VersaCold Logistics Services
By End-use Industry	Fruits & Vegetables Bakery & Confectionary Dairy & Frozen Desserts Meat, Fish, & Sea Food Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Others
By Business Type	Warehousing Transportation Railways Airways Roadways Waterways

Analyst Review

The current business scenario of the cold chain logistics market has witnessed an upsurge in the adoption of novel technology in developed as well as developing regions. In accordance with the insights of the CXOs of leading companies, the global cold chain logistics market is expected to grow at a remarkable rate in the future, owing to an increase in the consumer demand for perishable goods and growth in the adoption of transportation of temperature-controlled products. Furthermore, the factors such as increase in government initiatives & subsidies for cold chain solution providers to tap the developing markets such as India, Japan, and Canada with innovative solutions and expansion of organized retail stores in emerging economies are expected to create numerous opportunities for the key players operating in the cold chain logistics market.

According to insights gathered from primary sources, significant adoption of radio frequency identification technology (RFID) for cold chain applications such as real-time temperature monitoring in cold chain logistics boosts the opportunity of the cold chain logistics sector. At present, RFID technology is bringing a massive change to cold chain refinement management by identifying the advantages of long-distance, fast, not easy to damage, large capacity, simplifying complicated workflow, and effectively improving management efficiency and business transparency. Asia-Pacific is projected to witness the fastest growth in the adoption of RFID technology in the cold chain market during the forecast period, owing to growth in F&B retail sector in countries such as the China, India, and Australia. In October 2021, Lineage Logistics Holding, LLC launched its fully automated state-of-art cold storage warehouse with 22 automated facilities to increase storage density & provide real-time inventory management near Port of Virginia’s marine terminal.

Factors such as increase in the number of refrigerated warehouses and growth in the pharmaceutical sector are expected to drive the growth of the cold chain logistics market. In addition, growth in the processed food sector boosts the market growth. However, factors such as lack of standardization and high operational cost restrain the market growth. Furthermore, RFID technology for cold chain applications and the adoption of software for cold chain logistics provide lucrative growth opportunities for the market players.

Among the analyzed regions, Asia-Pacific is the highest revenue contributor, followed by North America, Europe and LAMEA. On the basis of forecast analysis, Europe is expected to maintain its lead during the forecast period, owing to increase in demand for cold stored food across the region.

Author Name(s) : Abhay Singh | Lalit Janardhan Katare

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