Cold Chain, Pharma and Food Logistics

The cold chain is the part of the supply chain where a mistake is measured in degrees and hours and the product cannot be recovered: a pallet of frozen shrimp that thaws, a truckload of lettuce held too warm, or a shipment of vaccine that leaves its 2–8°C band is a write-off, and sometimes a safety recall. It is also the most capital- and energy-intensive part of warehousing. Temperature-controlled warehouses cost far more to build and run than ambient ones, and two listed US REITs dominate public ownership: Lineage, which listed on Nasdaq in Jul 2024 in the year's largest IPO (~$4.4bn raised at $78 a share, reported) and traded at ~$36 at the end of Oct 2026 (third-party quote, less than half the IPO price), and Americold. Pharma logistics is a higher-margin specialty that integrators and forwarders are buying into: UPS closed its acquisition of Andlauer Healthcare Group on 1 Nov 2025 (C$55.00 a share in cash, ~C$2.2bn, ~US$1.6bn). Rules are tightening and loosening at once. The FDA's food-traceability rule under FSMA section 204 was due on 20 Jan 2026; its compliance date moved to 20 Jul 2028, and Congress directed the FDA not to enforce it before then. Section 232 tariffs on patented pharmaceuticals and their active ingredients — up to 100%, from 31 Jul 2026 for 17 named companies and 29 Sep 2026 for other importers, 15% for the EU, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, with generics and biosimilars excluded for now — push drug makers towards US production and change what flows through pharma networks. This section explains temperature bands and units, cold-storage economics, reefer shipping and trucking, pharma logistics, COVID vaccine distribution (2020–21), food distribution and safety rules, the energy and labour exposure, and how to read the companies.