US Cold Team Members, Partners, and Friends,

As we move into 2026, the company has turned an important page.

2025 was a year of relentless execution. Across the network, teams expanded facilities, integrated new systems, and pushed through an extraordinary amount of work to strengthen the foundation of the business. It was a year of sprinting. Many of the things we had been planning and building for several years finally moved into reality. I am incredibly proud of what our teams accomplished.

Now what excites me is what comes next. Because 2026 is the year we begin to fully execute. The facilities we expanded are now operating at scale. The systems we built are now running in production. The automation programs we launched are now becoming part of everyday operations. In many ways the sprinting phase is behind us. Now we run.

Across the industry the last couple of years have felt cautious. Many companies were waiting to see how the broader economy would unfold. As we move into 2026, I sense growing confidence across our customers and partners. For US Cold that creates real opportunity. We may see a measured start to the year, but I believe we are heading toward a very strong finish.

This moment also comes at a meaningful time for the country. In 2026 the United States will celebrate its 250th anniversary. For a company that helps move food across this nation every day, that milestone is a reminder of the infrastructure that keeps the country running. Our work is part of that system.

First, safety. In 2025 US Cold achieved the best safety performance in the company’s history. Every metric improved. Recordable injuries, days away incidents, DART performance and other measures all reached new benchmarks. It happened because thousands of people across our facilities made safety part of how they work every day. I want to recognize the leadership of Lisa Battino and her team, and as importantly the commitment of every team member who takes ownership of creating a safer workplace. We are off to a strong start in 2026, but safety is never finished. Our goal now is simple. Make 2026 the safest year in US Cold history.

Second is technology and execution. We are now approaching the end of our legacy warehouse systems and the full transition to Phenix: our Warehouse Execution System. This is a major milestone for the company. Phenix gives our operations teams faster and clearer visibility into the movement of product through our facilities. The work does not stop there. Additional teams are already building the next evolution of the platform. Key pieces are already running in production and the performance is impressive. The new architecture is enabling our developers to make modifications faster and safely. AI-assisted coding and QA has been a game changer, I’m glad our technology group adopted early. The result is that our technology organization is moving faster and delivering more to our facilities than ever before.

Third, I want to recognize our carrier community. Recently we won a new customer after a competitive RFP process. As part of their evaluation they had spoken directly with carriers that serve our facilities. The feedback was clear. US Cold stood out significantly in terms of carrier satisfaction. That recognition belongs to the people across our facilities who interact with drivers every single day. Turning trucks efficiently, running organized yards, and treating drivers with professionalism and respect all make a difference. From the general manager to the shipping office to the representative working the window, every interaction matters.

We are also investing in systems to support that experience including improvements to appointment scheduling, welcome center processes, yard management tools, and direct feedback systems. Our goal is simple. Make the carrier experience at US Cold the best in the business.

Looking ahead to 2026 there are several things I am particularly excited about. One is continuing to build on our safety performance. Another is the next generation of case picking technology now being deployed in several facilities. Early results are showing meaningful improvements in productivity and throughput, with additional upside ahead.

More broadly we are seeing the transformation we have been working toward begin to take shape. For several years we were building the foundation through facility expansions, automation programs, and modernization of our technology platforms. Now we are beginning to see the impact of that work across the network. We are moving from sprinting to running, and in many places the technology and automation in our buildings are beginning to move even faster.

The foundation is strong. The momentum is building. The opportunity ahead is real.

2026 is the year we execute on everything we built. I am excited to see what we accomplish together.

Larry Alderfer | President & CEO

Ready to Grow When You Are!

US Cold assets and services are perfect for partners growing in the Southeast.

What do real estate and refrigerated warehousing have in common? It’s location, location, location. Being in the right place—matters.

Then again, what ultimately distinguishes cold storage leaders is something more. Although location is important, what third-party logistics providers most need is the right mix of services and solutions for their food processor-shipper partners.

That easily describes US Cold’s Southeast region, which includes nine locations stretching from Omaha, NE, eastward to Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida. Every day, these regional operations handle a wide range of refrigerated and frozen products—from dairy to deli meats and ice cream to entrees.

Speaking of products, US Cold’s Southeast region operations—including those in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina—have earned annual “Warehouse of the Year” KPI performance awards from partners such as Mars, The Magnum Ice Cream Co. and Butterball.

In just the last few years, US Cold has invested millions in expansions, automation and new technologies throughout the region. These include a Phase 3 expansion with automation in Lake City, FL (completed 2024) as well as a state-of-the-art, Phase 3 cooler expansion in McDonough, GA (scheduled for 2027 completion).

“I’m proud we provide and maintain superior service levels at an affordable cost. That’s what allowed us to grow in these markets,” says David Carr, Senior Vice President, Business Development. “We continue to invest to accommodate a growing customer base and keep pace with overall regional trends and needs.”

Investing in Automation, Efficiency

US Cold puts its money where its mouth is. In a competitive, Atlanta-area market, it expects by May 2027 to complete a 14.8 million-cubic-foot refrigerated addition at its McDonough 1, GA, warehouse. The final build-out will include some of the industry’s latest storage and retrieval automation and bring the operation’s total footprint to more than 21 million cubic feet.

“This expansion isn’t just about adding cubic footage—it’s about future-proofing the business by increasing our capacity, efficiency, and competitiveness in such a fast-growing, temperature-sensitive market,” adds General Manager Dedric Thomas. “We want to provide current and future customers more opportunities for growth without compromising existing operations. Ultimately, it means we can better serve customers with more space, faster turnaround times and the ability to handle larger or more complex orders.”

The expansion will include two new refrigerated, 35°F rooms. One 13.2 million-cubic-foot room will house an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) while a smaller room will house some of the industry’s most advanced automated layer pick equipment. The expansion also will include more than 41,000 additional pallet positions, 26 more dock doors and two additional rail dock doors.

Interestingly enough, US Cold also chose the Southeast for its first multifarious automated expansion, a 5.5-million-cubic-foot frozen addition completed in 2024 in Lake City, FL. Officials selected the site as critical for the company’s ability to service the state’s overall growing population as well as Publix Super Markets’ key distribution centers in Tampa and Orlando.

In both instances, US Cold is keeping a check on critical labor costs in competitive markets. It likewise enhances its abilities to provide COLDshare Consolidation less-than-truckload distribution services. These efforts lower costs for processor-shippers and more efficiently service end-receivers. Every year, US Cold builds more than 80,000 consolidated LTL shipments and moves more than 2 billion pounds in the process. It uses the latest technologies like AI-assisted load-planning and a state-of-the-art TMS.

For the record, its McDonough and Lake City operations also are served by rail.

Welcome to Tennessee!

You could say that US Cold also puts its money where consumer’s mouth is—in Tennessee. Axios Media Nashville reported that Tennessee’s population had grown by 7.3 million people in July 2025, a year-over-year increase of 0.9% according to Census estimates. Interestingly, that population growth exceeded the national annual figure of 0.5%. Axios also noted that Tennessee ranks in the top 10 states based on raw population and rate of growth.

US Cold sites in La Vergne and Smyrna, TN, collectively manage about 8.2 million cubic feet of refrigerated and frozen space (-05ºF to +38ºF) with approximately 32,000 racked pallet positions. These sister sites are close to Nashville and Knoxville and also are strategically suited to serve Washington, DC; Richmond, VA; Raleigh, NC; and Birmingham, AL.

It’s a Blast!

Just as different markets have different needs, US Cold’s Southeast Region also serves the nation’s leading meat protein processors. Operations in Lumberton and Warsaw, NC, as well as Omaha, NE, collectively manage nearly 20 million cubic feet of space. These operations offer -20ºF to +45ºF storage (varies by location) and all three provide the latest in quick freeze module blast freezing, import-export services and global BRCGS Certifications.

US Cold Lumberton, in particular, boasts one of company’s largest blast-freezing operations. With 60% of inbound loads coming from local processing plants, it handles an immense volume of export shipments and sends products worldwide.

Warm Welcome for Cold Carriers

US Cold creates enhanced “Welcome Center” experience for carrier partners.

Sure, it may be called refrigerated “warehousing,” but first impressions matter before products even enter the warehouse. That’s why US Cold is proactively welcoming and engaging carrier partners well before their shipments are unloaded.

Interestingly enough, it was back in 2022 when US Cold created its first carrier Welcome Center in Lebanon, IN. Today finds US Cold is extending the concept to other sites nationwide and increasing its use of Vector, a complementary digitized driver information platform.

Adam Ashley, Area Director, Midwest, has led the Welcome Center program.

“Coming out of COVID, our Lebanon team saw an opportunity to better service drivers at a Welcome Center,” says Ashley. “It saved drivers the hassle of parking, going to the office, getting door assignments, walking back to truck, moving to the door, going back to office, getting paperwork, heading back to truck, and then checking out at the guard house.

“With this shift, drivers have just one point of contact to complete the entire arrival process. Moreover, they can choose to stay in their trucks to wait for a door assignment and the new arrangement reduces foot traffic in a busy yard. We also were pleased because the first interaction with drivers now involves USCS personnel instead of third-party guard services. Sometimes, drivers may not have the proper load identification numbers and this is more easily and quickly corrected when a USCS associate checks them in.”

US Cold rolled the Welcome Center design to its Bethlehem, PA, and Lowell, IN, sites. Plans this year are to introduce it to Wilmington, IL, and other sites that facilitate a retrofit. Officials also expect to incorporate centers into all new construction.

Embracing Carriers—in the Digital Realm

US Cold’s driver engagement efforts also involve its two-year-old Vector platform, a digitized driver information exchange. Introduced in 2024, Vector lets drivers check in ahead of arrival so facilities can plan and communicate directly with the driver. When the driver arrives, they move through the facility gate with very little friction, and they do not need to leave their cab because yard instructions are texted and POD’s are provided digitally. As part of the pre-check, drivers digitize their bills of lading, which allows facilities to confirm and sign digitally. Then, the signed proof-of-delivery documents are available in real time to carrier billing departments and customers.

Today, US Cold offers the Vector platform at 11 sites and an estimated 70% of drivers already are pre-check participants. One of the program’s big benefits is its integration with US Cold’s PHENIX warehouse management system and other automated processes. If a driver checks in, US Cold’s shipping and receiving office can avoid data entry while the driver avoids unnecessary time in line or trips to the office.

One of those overseeing the Vector and Welcome Center program is Eddie Russell, US Cold PMO Supervisor & Program Owner.

“With our new Welcome Center models, we have multiple dedicated vector lanes. Think of it like the Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck or Clear programs,” he says. “When a driver arrives on site, they are presented with a single-use code they type into the keypad. That code opens the gate and they automatically get their yard instructions. Meanwhile, drivers who didn’t pre-check wait their turn to check in with the associate at the window.

“Having our shipping and receiving (S&R) office at the point of entry allows our operations to stack trucks efficiently, enable the fast-pass model for Vector and saves drivers a trip to the S&R office,” Russell adds. “And I’ll echo Adam’s point about our US Cold employees as the first point of driver contact. Our Welcome Center facilities are first to give a ‘Best in Cold’ experience to our driver partners.”

Speaking of best-in-class concepts, Russell speaks to even more Vector enhancements in the near future.

“We have many more improvements coming soon,” he says. “These include automatic trailer routing for drop and hook, AI analysis of POD’s for confirmation and receipt creation, and electronic bills of lading signatures for US Cold’s outbound loads.”

Celebrating US Cold’s Past, Present…

As the USA turns 250, US Cold celebrates over a century of service.

This year finds the nation celebrating its 250th anniversary of the United States’ Declaration of Independence. Coast to coast, federal, state and local governments are hosting commemorative, year-round events and honoring memorable moments. Those key moments include the April 18, 1775, ride of Paul Revere; the July 4, 1776, declaration adoption; and the official Aug. 2 signing by members of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

Did you know that United States Cold Storage can trace its own history back 127 years to 1899? It’s also an engaging, fascinating story of key moments and actions over more than a century. Coincidentally enough, it also involves the city of Philadelphia in the storyline.

Sharing thoughts about the company’s legacy are former executives past and present including David Harlan, Rod Noll, Mike Radnoti and Larry Alderfer.

MORE THAN A CENTURY OF SERVICE: US COLD THROUGH THE YEARS

1899 — United States Cold Storage traces its roots to the founding of the American Ice Company in New Jersey.

1900s — Natural ice harvesting is still the primary source of refrigeration and urban homes rely on daily ice delivery.

1905 — Mechanical refrigeration begins appearing in breweries and meatpacking plants and early “cold storage warehouses” emerge in major cities.

1910 — Artificial ice production starts to compete with natural ice, cold storage becomes critical for rail-based food distribution as refrigerated railcars expand national food supply chains.

1915 — Cities begin shifting from harvested ice to manufactured ice plants as cold storage enables longer shelf life for meat and dairy, ice delivery still common but beginning to decline.

1925 — Commercial refrigeration systems improve efficiency and scale and grocery stores begin using refrigerated display cases – ice harvesting rapidly declining in major cities.

Harlan, US Cold’s former President & CEO, retired at the end of 2019 after 40 years with the company.

“I think the pivotal moment was when Swire purchased American Consumer Industries, which included US Cold,” he says. “Swire then sold off the many diversified operations—including an ice business—to concentrate on cold storage.

“Then the one person who most impacted the company most was its first CEO Peter Roberts,” says Harlan. “He realized US Cold needed revitalization and that old management wasn’t focused. Peter wanted to change company culture and, in part, make it fun.”

1935 — Refrigeration becomes standard in food production and storage as cold chain infrastructure begins forming across: production >> storage >> transport.

1940 — Majority of urban homes now have refrigerators, refrigerated trucking begins supplementing rail, frozen food category begins to emerge.

1945 — Cold storage becomes essential for national food security, frozen foods expand rapidly in retail.

As an example, he purchased a racquetball club membership and invited everyone at the Philadelphia office to play during lunch. It was a great way to build camaraderie with so many of us who were young professionals. He had a similar effect in the field and looked for key players who could embrace vision. He identified Pat Fitzpatrick and that later led to my decision to promote Pat to Chief Operating Officer.

Harlan concludes, “Peter was only there for about a five-year tenure but he had a dramatic effect. Ultimately, he would lay the foundation for our management team for what would be the next 30 years.”

Teamwork Makes the “Green” Work

US Cold partners with customers, vendors to rescue food, avoid landfill waste.

Want to talk about sustainability in refrigerated warehousing? Not surprisingly, a primary goal is to save energy. Yet did you realize US Cold cares just as deeply about saving and preserving food in addition to land and air quality?

“Within sustainability, we’re extending efforts directed at food rescue and waste prevention,” notes Sara Cook, Sustainable Development Manager. “This program is a true company-wide initiative that reflects our core values, engages employees at every location and level, and creates meaningful and measurable impact for both our communities and our customers. Yet even in this area, we’re determined to deliver meaningful impact and pursue beneficial reuse, landfill avoidance, waste prevention and alternative disposal methods.”

Behind the scenes, US Cold follows a “hierarchy” of donation and reuse solutions. Henry Lewis, Sustainability Specialist III, says the first option is to find donation recipients such as Sharing Excess for any food that will not be regularly sold. Meanwhile, most non-donatable foodstuffs are directed away from landfills. Instead, US Cold maintains a national network of disposal partners including 101 Solutions (animal feed production), The Organic Recycler (compost or soil additives) and Divert Inc. (biogas generation). Last but not least, US Cold also works with Waste Management for additional broad geographic solutions.

Nationwide, US Cold works with as many as 31 food banks and seven major waste partners in 10 states. It also engages more than 80 processor-shipper customers in its programs.

Record Results

Want proof of how everyday actions add up? US Cold operations last year set a sustainability record for rescuing and/or reusing four times more food in 2025 than the year before.

Donation commitments provided the equivalent of 450,000+ meals in 2025 alone. And as for waste, since the start of 2024 US Cold has diverted an estimated 25 million pounds of food products from landfills.

“That’s enough to cover a football field with more than 12,000 pallets, stacked three high, or about 18 feet in the air,” says Lewis.

Lewis estimates that last year’s landfill avoidance efforts saved approximately 7,000 metric tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). More specifically, Lewis credits US Cold’s Southeast and Southwest regions for reallocating more than 50% of food waste away from landfills.

Speaking of operations, US Cold has never been so coordinated in companywide and site-level food rescue planning and communication.

“Last year saw us integrate our diversion activities with Operations, Procurement and Customer-facing processes,” says Lewis. “We developed standards, requirements, trainings, and engagement tools for employees. This includes updated order coding guidance for US Cold sites to categorize disposal events in a standardized format.”

US Cold now offers marketing materials with clear, succinct explanations for customers and on-site staff. Every major waste partner is represented in a series of one-page documents that include frequently asked questions and simplified outreach steps.

Behind the scenes, Lewis says US Cold collaborates with vendors to secure flexible pricing that satisfies a wide range of customer criteria.

New Year, New Efforts

US Cold already is underway with awareness campaign efforts to scale its program and connect more with customers. The company emphasizes food rescue as the first option for diversion. In customer outreach, it presents two customer decisions (donation and destruction) as a combined solution that delivers measurable results and impact. In other external moves, Lewis says US Cold plans to expand its vendor partnership network and ensure every facility has both donation and non-landfill waste processing options.

Internally, Lewis says US Cold expects to reach more sites and employees with program-related tools, resources and training. Meanwhile, the sustainability group hopes to celebrate and recognize more food donation efforts nationwide.

“I already can sense that we’re building trust with our sites and customers,” says Lewis. “We’re demonstrating that the partnerships we have prioritized are effective and reliable and we’re showing progress on US Cold’s SMART Target of a 60% diversion rate by 2027.”

“I’m also proud of the many US Cold site teams who took the initiative to establish or improve their own donation and diversion partnerships,” he concludes. “They’ve found success with little to no guidance and are even presenting solutions and options to other facilities!”

Cold Crew, Warm Hearts

US Cold celebrates five years of “Connect for a Cause” non-profit community outreach, impact.

It’s one thing to serve customers in a professional manner. Then again, it’s something else to serve neighbors on a personal level.

Speaking of numbers, US Cold’s Connect for a Cause program has raised nearly $1.2 million for non-profits since 2020 and also provided nearly 1.2 million meals since 2022.

US Cold hosted an employee Town Hall meeting in January and executives celebrated the company’s fifth annual Connect for a Cause campaign. It’s a program in which US Cold Crew members raise funds and awareness, volunteer time and donate meals for non-profit organizations in local communities.

Last year alone, US Cold employees helped raise $233,331 and they served 2,433 volunteer hours. US Cold gave another $702,000 in charitable donations and donated 482,420 meals to 30 food banks and pantries near US Cold facilities.

This past year saw four US Cold regions—as well as the company’s headquarters—support a different non-profit. These included:

• Christ’s Haven for Children
• Boys & Girls Club of Bethlehem, PA
• Disabled American Veterans
• Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
• Valley Children’s Healthcare Foundation

“Connect for a Cause began in 2020 as a more intentional way to do what US Cold has always done—give back to our communities,” says Paige Salvador, HR Manager-Employee Experience. “And not only has it stood the test of time, but it has grown into an annual company tradition that reflects our values and commitment to corporate partnership with the communities to which our employees feel connected.”

She adds, “While its impact can be measured in numbers, its true significance is found in what it means to our US Cold volunteers. It continues to bring our employees together by empowering them to raise funds and awareness and make a meaningful, positive difference.”

“What stands out most to me is the continued commitment of US Cold employees to show care and support for our neighbors in the communities where they live and work—while still giving their best at work, year after year,” says Salvador. “It is remarkable to witness the strength and continuity of this program as we celebrate our fifth year.”

She concludes, “I would like to acknowledge this year’s Regional Connect for a Cause Ambassadors: Carol Fitzgerald, Max Sheffler, Nicholas Dimsdale, Nick Kopf, and Chris Halsted. Their guidance and oversight of the campaign drove its success and celebration.”

Mission: Possible

US Cold celebrates annual labor safety goals, successful 13-year journey.

Every business has goals. Yet leaders tend to think and talk differently about goals—depending on the perspective of time. A shorter-term, annual goal is defined like a target or destination. In contrast, when you consider company achievements over a long period, you realize business success is a journey.

That’s perhaps the best way to showcase US Cold’s occupational safety advances over more than a decade. One person with both short- and long-term perspectives on these subjects is Lisa Battino, who joined the company in 2013 as Regulatory Compliance & Safety Manager.

“Our proactive safety approach at US Cold Storage has transformed the way we work,” says Battino. “By identifying risks early, empowering our teams to speak up, and acting before incidents occur, we’ve prevented injuries that once felt inevitable. This disciplined commitment to doing the right thing—every shift, every site—has led us to a record safety year, and it’s proof that when safety is a value, everyone wins.”

Facts and figures also tell the story. Just consider that when Battino started, US Cold’s Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) was 5.48 and its Lost-Time Injury Rate (LTIR) was 2.61. Today, US Cold boasts some of the industry’s best safety performance figures respectively, with a TRIR at 2.61 and a record-setting LTIR of 0.54 in 2025.

Speaking of last year, every one of US Cold’s sites also held monthly safety committee meetings and conducted safety inspections. Battino adds that US Cold also hired outside safety professionals to conduct seven additional facility safety audits “just for a fresh set of eyes to help us become even better.”

Without a doubt, one of last year’s key advances involved the release of US Cold’s third accident prevention training module, “Zero Degrees of Harm for Slips, Trips & Falls.” Developed by Corporate Safety & Health Specialist Ian Toomey, the module addresses those warehouse conditions and activities shown most likely to lead to injury by falling.

“It complements the other modules because it follows the same flow and pattern,” Toomey notes. “It is easier for warehouses to plug and play a similar module like this into their everyday operations instead of a completely brand-new module. We wanted to bring some awareness and create some training opportunities around Slips Trips and Falls, and I think with this training module created we can do just that! This project came out so much better than I expected it to because of all the contributions from USCS team members.”

History in the Making

US Cold’s annual, incremental safety measures literally do pay off. Here’s a quick review of new safety efforts from 2014 through 2024.

In 2014, US Cold introduced SLAM (“Stop, Look, Assess, Manage”) to improve situational awareness. Two years later, it introduced HITTS (“Hazard Identification Tracking & Training”) to identify root injury causes.

In 2018, it held its first companywide Safety Summit where safety leaders shared best-in-class ideas. And rather than use standard, off-the-shelf safety videos, US Cold started developing its own customized content including “micro” five-minute videos on various topics.

One pivotal moment came with the 2019 launch of “Zero Degrees of Harm” and “Zero Degrees of Ergonomic Harm.” Respectively, these two accident prevention modules present deep-dive safety training involving use of forklifts as well as proper ergonomic lifting techniques.

It was six years ago, in 2020, when US Cold introduced its first annual “Innovators Gran Prix.” This companywide contest honors the top three sites that score best against key performance indicators for occupational safety, food safety, health, process safety, security and sustainability. Also that year, USCS introduced pre-shift stretching exercises custom developed by a physical therapist.

During the past four years, US Cold has introduced root cause analysis to better understand accidents and take more future preventative measures. One literal improvement has been to install laser lights on docks to (1) reduce forklift congestion on docks, (2) identify areas where products should be stored and (3) create clearer traffic pathways.

The Journey Continues

Not surprisingly, Battino has several new goals for 2026—involving everything from serious injury analysis to automation safety.

Proactive Perspective, Practice: For starters, Battino says US Cold will change its focus to preventative improvements instead of corrective actions. She describes this as looking more proactively at injury incident details and even perhaps identifying ways to “engineer out” a hazard.

“This is so much more than reminding people to follow the rules,” she says. “We’re challenging ourselves to say, ‘What can we do to make sure this hazard is either eliminated or significantly reduced?'”

Listen to the Cold Cast

From Data to Decisions: How Business Intelligence Is Powering the Future of the Cold Chain

Discover how data is transforming the cold chain in the latest episode of the Cold Cast, featuring Liz, Senior Manager of Business Intelligence at United States Cold Storage. With over a decade of experience, Liz shares her journey from logistics analyst to leading the BI team, and how her group empowers the organization with real-time insights, intuitive dashboards, and smarter decision-making. From the evolution of data infrastructure to the growing role of AI in shaping the future of business intelligence, this episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at how data drives operations, innovation, and impact across the company. Scan the QR code to listen and see how data is turning insight into action.