Cool Port

Two international logistics specialists signaled their intention in 2017 to redirect part of the global food chain through Oakland. In 2018, their vision becomes reality. Dreisbach Enterprises of Oakland and Carson, Ca-based Lineage Logistics will open a $91 million refrigerated clearinghouse for U.S. meat products. Called Cool Port Oakland, the 280,000-square-foot depot could send 750,000 tons of beef and pork through the Port of Oakland annually. It could also make Oakland a focal point in efforts to meet Asian demand for U.S. agricultural products.

“This is a game changer for global trade and the local economy,” said Port of Oakland Maritime Director John Driscoll. “We’ll connect U.S. producers to Asian consumers and in the process create hundreds of jobs in our own backyard.”

Dreisbach and Lineage have signed a 30-year lease to build and operate Cool Port on 25 acres at the Port’s waterfront. They hope to make it the gateway to Asia for meat packers from as far away as the U.S. Midwest. Both companies specialize in warehousing and temperature-controlled logistics. Lineage operates more than 50 facilities across the U.S. Dreisbach is concentrated in the western U.S. with a 63-year history in Oakland.

Cool Port Oakland broke ground in the summer of 2017. It will include refrigerated warehousing and distribution facilities and be fed by 11,200 feet of rail track. The temperature-controlled depot will be able to accommodate up to 36 rail cars at one time. Here’s how it will work:

• Packers will ship refrigerated cargo to Oakland in bulk, by either rail or truck.
• At Cool Port, the shipments will be transferred – or transloaded – into 40-foot-long ocean containers.
• The containers will then be whisked across the street to ships waiting at Port of Oakland marine terminals.

Oakland is already a hub for ocean transport of chilled and frozen meat products. Port officials expect Cool Port to significantly increase the volume of those commodities, as well as other perishable foods.

Cool Port officials said they expect to export the equivalent of 27,000 20-foot-shipping containers of meat to Asia annually. The project is expected to create 195 permanent jobs and 266 construction jobs, developers said.

Cool Port is expected to open in the third quarter of 2018.