Allen Lund Co.
Founded 1976 | North America | Non-Asset Based
When the conversation is about elite third-party brokers of temperature-controlled food transportation, it doesn’t take long until someone mentions the Allen Lund Co. See? That’s what Allen Lund seems to have been about—ethics, stability, fairness—for what feels like forever … even if the company won’t reach 40 ‘til next year. That’ll be a party. Meanwhile, Allen Lund’s 400 employees are in national offices that handle international and logistics & software divisions, networking with shippers and carriers to move dry, refrigerated and flatbed freight to just about wherever. allenlund.com

Americold
Founded 1903 | Global | Asset & Non-Asset Based
Why does Americold oversee a food chain in microcosm, linking producers to processors to distributors to retailers to consumers? What accounts for its dominion over the transport, temperature and continued non-toxicity of so many things that people put in their mouths? Short answer: 1 billion cubic feet of refrigerated-storage warehouses in six countries—the most in the world. More complete answer: those 1 billion cubic feet of storage and a just-updated i-3PL digital tracking tool. americold.com

Burris Logistics
[Information not provided.]
Solutions for temperature-controlled transport? Burris has a menu of them, itemized or bundled, prepared by four distinct company divisions, covering the supply chain start to finish. Scanning these services—procurement, temp-controlled transport, warehousing, distribution, food redistribution—it’s easy to recognize the obsessive efficiency that’s been the engine of the Burris family business for 90 years. It’s harder to tell whether that drive comes straight from a business plan or first did time as a family trait, that genetic inheritance Burris often credits for five generations of success. Feels like both. burrislogistics.com

C.R. England
Founded 1920 | North America | Asset Based
The late 2010 introduction of TempStack—53-foot temperature-controlled containers stacked two-high on railroad flatcars—injected the 3PL market with economic growth hormone. Those boxes expanded capacity, improved delivery and increased profits while easing traffic congestion and carbon impact. C.R. England got swole, too, becoming the nation’s largest temperature-controlled carrier and the trucking industry’s fastest-growing major company. And between 2014 and 2019, the U.S. refrigerated transportation market is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 12.44 percent—a boon for C.R. England and its sister company England Logistics. crengland.com

Flagship Logistics Group
[Information not provided.]
When a chain is only as cold as its warmest link—or only as valuable as its on-time delivery—Flagship reduces stress of frozen and refrigerated less than truckload transportation by improving communication, pairing each customer with a dedicated account manager. The company’s 99 percent on-time arrival rate and dock-to-door delivery don’t hurt, either. Neither do strategically located temperature-controlled distribution warehouses, regional cross-dock/cold storage facilities, and a reliable network of temperature-controlled carrier partners. Maybe 20 years of experience in temperature-controlled freight management is a good thing. flagshiplogistics.com

Hanson Logistics
Founded 1954 | Asset & Non-Asset Based

Its Chicago Consolidation Center is barely the same place after a fourth expansion in seven years added 12,000 pallet positions of deep frozen storage, bringing capacity to 16.5 million cubic feet. Yet throughput is even more efficient and accurate, thanks to state-of-the-art systems for ordering, picking and loading. Locating the place near northwest Indiana’s I-80/I-94/I-65 helps national distribution of food from central states, and eastern distribution of food from the west. Hanson’s Velocities Multi-Vendor Consolidation program has national status. hansonlogistics.com

Landstar
Founded 1988 | Global | Non-Asset Based
The company does temperature-controlled goods movement with a network of independent businesses—more than 1,100 agents, 8,400 leased owner operators, 14,000 trailers and 40,000 other available-capacity providers. The approach intends to bring specific expertise to the diverse shipping needs of cargo that ranges from consumer goods to products from the healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotech industries. The differences could be in packaging, handling, shelf life or even temperature, which Landstar monitors to ensure the stability and integrity of high value, high security products. landstar.com

Lineage Logistics
Founded 1907 | Asset Based
Although formed in 2012, this merger of premier temperature-controlled warehousing companies assembled a few centuries of combined experience, not to mention strong regional reputations. With 102 locations in 21 states—including strategic facilities at East and West Coast ports—Lineage serves retail distribution, food harvest and production, import and export, blast freezing and links U.S. and global markets. Its “local expertise and national reach” network accommodates temperature-controlled and dry freight via full truckload, less than truckload and intermodal. lineagelogistics.com

Tucker Co.
Founded 1961 | North America | Non-Asset Based
This outfit is increasingly focusing its temperature-controlled transport services on the steadily changing and demanding needs of the life science industry. As many medicinal treatments shift from pharmaceutical toward biologic treatments that are more sensitive to temperature and time, Tucker is responding with more technologically precise logistics and better educated workers. Tucker also offers a vetting service, the Secured Carriers program, to assess the qualifications of carriers entrusted with potentially life-saving cargo. tuckerco.com

Weber Logistics
Founded 1924 | North America | Asset & Non-Asset Based
In the candy business, where retail replenishment is a nearly daily duty, the cost of temperature-controlled, less-than-truckload freight can turn a sweet tooth into a stomach ache. Weber Logistics solved this dilemma for its many clients in the confectionery industry by developing a strategy of freight consolidation. Weber receives truckload (TL) shipments from multiple candy manufacturers, sorts products based on retailer orders and ships multi-vendor, consolidated TL shipments to meet retailers’ requested arrival dates. What a sweet ride. weberlogistics.com