Bellingham Cold Storage has prime chilled warehousing space ready to go, with easy access to the U.S., Canadian and overseas markets.
At its 25-acre property on Orchard Drive, Bellingham Cold Storage is looking to develop its 19th and 20th four-temperature, Safe Quality Food (SQF)-certified storage warehouses.
In the growing refrigerated storage industry, the expansion is part of Bellingham Cold Storage’s plans to continue providing top-notch chilled storage services to Canadian and U.S. companies in need of food and beverage storage with prime access to shipping.
Chilled warehousing at BCS is used by local and international companies for the storage of perishable and non-perishable products such as beverages, seafood, fruit, dairy and cheese, meat, manufactured foods, pharmaceuticals and even industrial materials.
These third-party logistics (3PL) uses are becoming more common these days as customer-focused industries reinvent themselves to keep pace with the evolution of shopping and buying patterns.
“Setting up regional supply chain networks, accessing regional transportation routes and temperature-controlled logistics and warehouses is vital and transformative,” states one report.
The growing use of 3PL is also spurred by the fact that prime land is scarce, construction is expensive, and the proper operation of chilled storage facilities is complex. Citing a December 2019 CBRE report, Refrigerated & Frozen Foods Magazine offered some potential solutions: “These challenges are likely to be addressed gradually by growth in the ranks of specialized developers and builders of cold storage as well as additional capital flowing into the industry.”
At its two locations in Bellingham, WA — one on the waterfront, and one adjacent to Interstate 5 — BCS offers a number of refrigerated storage services:
A proprietary WebOPTICS inventory management system, which gives customers real-time looks at their inventory and enables them to retrieve their products using first-in, first-out principles.
Flexible storage solutions with bulk, open and push-back racking.
Variable storage temperatures — from 34 F to 38 F — in several different facilities. BCS provides access to a West Coast cold storage center with two cool rooms, three chilled warehouses and 16 temperature-flexible warehouses.
Plenty of capacity on two Bellingham campuses. Multinational food manufacturers, seafood processors and small, local producers have stored hundreds of millions of pounds of chilled products at BCS.
For those storing seafood for international shipping, the fact that there’s a United States Department of Commerce Seafood Inspection Program office onsite can be a strategic benefit.