Seafrigo, a global logistics company, is expanding their logistics services into the South Florida market, just-in-time for the new Panama Canal.
Seafrigo is headquartered in France and specializes in the food logistics industry. This Miami warehouse will be their third regional facility within the United States. One of the significant reasons that Seafrigo selected Miami for their next expansion was due to the opening of the new Panama Canal on June 26th.
The 30,000 sq. ft. warehouse space is located at 3200 NW 67th Avenue, in South Florida Logistics Center (SFLC) just twelve miles from PortMiami. The warehouse will have both coolers and freezers installed based on Seafrigo’s specifications. Although most of the food products will be shipped via ocean, some will arrive via air from Miami International Airport located next door.
“It is with great pleasure to announce Seafrigo’s decision to open its location in Miami. We feel that PortMiami and Miami International Airport are going to be key factors in the perishable logistic activity. Our vision of Miami is to be the gateway of Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond. Miami will directly benefit from the opening of the Panama Canal which will accelerate the shift of the US ocean TEU’s market share from the West coast to the East coast. We are very excited to start a new Seafrigo endeavor in this dynamic market.” states Stephane Desseigne, CEO, Seafrigo.
“We are pleased to welcome Seafrigo to Miami-Dade County,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. “Seafrigo’s choice to use PortMiami as a global gateway represents a growing trend. Perishables growth at the port has increased approximately 25%. Customers are taking notice that PortMiami can efficiently move refrigerated products to markets in Florida and the Southeastern U.S., as well as to Latin America and the Caribbean. This represents reducing time-to-market and lowering transportation costs. Faster is fresher when using PortMiami.”
Seafrigo was represented by ComReal Miami.
“To my knowledge, Seafrigo becomes the first major company to locate to Miami partially due to the new Panama Canal expansion.” states Edward Redlich, SIOR, CCIM, Vice-President with ComReal. “It is always exciting to welcome a new client to the market especially when they are headquartered outside the USA. Miami has truly grown from a Latin American market to a global market. Next month, I will be participating in my second trade mission to the Panama Canal.”
ComReal’s Chris Spear, CCIM also adds “Cooler warehouses are hot in Miami right now. Over the last two years, we have been involved in several transactions involving refrigerated warehouses, since many of our clientele are in the foods and/or flowers industries. This is our fourth customer that has chosen South Florida Logistics Center because of its location relative to both the port and/or airport.”
“Exclusive access to PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport makes South Florida Logistics Center the ideal location for Seafrigo,” said Dan Marcus, Executive Vice President of Development at Flagler Global Logistics. “SFLC is a master-planned multimodal park being developed with 2 million square feet of state-of-the-art cold and dry industrial space providing tenants with competitive access for air, rail, sea and truck freight.”
“As the only intermodal rail service along Florida’s east coast, Florida East Coast Railway is excited for the opportunity to provide our seamless rail service for Seafrigo’s cold chain traffic,” said James R. Hertwig, President & CEO of Florida East Coast Railway. “We have invested in infrastructure to support multi-modal shipping and global trade into and out of South Florida and our on-dock rail facility at PortMiami provides efficient and reliable intermodal rail service, allowing goods to reach 70 percent of the U.S. population within four days.”