New Orleans Cold Storage doubles capacity at Port of Charleston

New Orleans Cold Storage (NOCS), the oldest cold storage company in North America, announced that it will more than double the size of its existing storage space at the Port of Charleston. This expansion will include an investment of more than $14 million, of which the South Carolina State Ports Authority has approved up to a $12 million contribution to the expansion.
“Not only will our storage space be increasing dramatically by over 150 percent, but we will also be increasing our blast freezing capacity by 100 percent, giving us the ability to grow with the market well into the future,” said Mark Blanchard, president and CEO of New Orleans Cold Storage. “We are looking forward to offering even more services to our clients at the Port of Charleston, where we have been for almost 30 years. This expansion will help us continue to be one of the largest logistics and cold storage suppliers to the poultry, pork, beef, seafood vegetable, and international refrigerated food industries.”
The expansion will especially benefit the import meat trade that originally brought NOCS to the Port of Charleston in 1986, particularly that with Australia, New Zealand, Central America and South America. NOCS and the South Carolina State Ports Authority regard this growth as mutually beneficial. “We’re pleased to be a part of New Orleans Cold Storage’s expansion, especially given the strategic importance of refrigerated cargo to our business,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina State Ports Authority. “So far this fiscal year, we’ve handled nearly 70,000 TEUs of refrigerated cargo, and we hope to see those numbers increase with this announcement.”
For over 127 years, NOCS has been one of the world’s leading providers of comprehensive logistics services for the efficient handling of time and temperature-sensitive cargoes. NOCS expanded its services to include the port of Charleston in 1986. The NOCS South Atlantic Facility at the Port of Charleston was built in 1987, and has been an integral part of the NOCS operation ever since.