In This Issue

Convention Registration Open!

Peer-to-Peer Networking at its Best

Guidance for Record Retention Member Resource

GCCA at NWFPA Food Manufacturing & Packaging Expo

Second Harvest Needs Space to Feed Hungry

Cold Storage Industry News

Food Industry News

Government News

Do you know all your member benefits? Find out at www.iarw.org/membership.

Registration for the 2010 IARW-WFLO Annual Convention and Expo is now open! Being held 24-29 April 2010 at the beautiful Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, at the 2010 Convention, we are standing strong and shaping the future with a program geared towards helping you solve today’s business problems and strategize for tomorrow’s business opportunities. Be a part of the future. Join us for over 20 hours of world-class educational programming, a 95-booth expo, and networking opportunities with the biggest players in the cold storage today. Register online at www.iarw.org/convention!

Two hundred and forty of the world’s top upcoming warehousing and logistics professionals have already registered for the 2010 WFLO Institute, being held 31 January – 3 February 2010 at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. As WFLO Institute students, they will reap the rewards of the industry’s premier refrigerated warehousing and logistics education and training. The Institute also delivers a unique opportunity for PRW employees to meet and network with their peers from around the world. 2005 Institute graduate and WFLO Treasurer Janice Scott highlighted the importance of the personal connections made at Institute. “In addition to the terrific classes, are all the wonderful people I met that I can call on if the need arises, the networking opportunities are an added bonus.” Register and learn more.

Are you aware of all of the resources available to you as a member of IARW? For example, organizing a multitude of business and personal files is never easy, but this task can be more manageable if you know how long each record should be kept. IARW has a guide that will help you keep current on requirements for this industry. The Finance and Administration bulletin containing this guide can be found here. Look for more ways that membership with IARW can help your business thrive in 2010.

GCCA will present two sessions at the Northwest Food Manufacturing & Packaging Expo, 17-20 January 2010 in Portland, Oregon. Register for as little as $75 by identifying yourself as a GCCA member. GCCA Vice President Corey Rosenbusch, Mike Henningsen (Henningsen Cold Storage), and Joe Howard (IARW Insurance Service/Lockton Companies) will present a session titled “Cold Chain Management.” GCCA Director of International Programs Richard Tracy, Gleyn E Bledsoe (Washington State University), and Ernesto Ventura (Cummins Contracting & Supply) will address cold chain in emerging markets. Note: the hotel deadline for this event is 28 December 2009. Learn more.

Second Harvest Tri-Cities, located in Kennewick, Washington, USA is asking for an unusual gift this holiday season – 10,000 square feet of refrigerated warehouse space. Second Harvest Tri-Cities serves 275 food banks and meal programs in 21 counties in Eastern Washington, USA and five in North Idaho, USA. The 5,000-square-foot warehouse that they currently operate out of has proven to be so insufficient that they have had to store perishables at a local PRW, sometimes at a beer and wine distributorship, and once in a while in Second Harvest's refrigerated truck. "It's not efficient. Sometimes we have to handle food two, three times or more before it gets to the food banks," Rick Stromberg, operations manager for Second Harvest Tri-Cities, said. "If we're using the truck to move food around, then it's not available to pick up donations." Several years ago, Second Harvest Tri-Cities provided food mostly to the homeless, but in the recent economic downturn they find they are feeding mainly minimum wage working families. Read the full story here or visit www.2-harvest.org/8/tri-cities/ to find out how you can help.

The International Fiance Corporation will provide $5 million in equity to cold chain logistics service provider Snowman Frozen Foods Limited to expand efficient storage facilities across India. See full release.

enXco has completed an installation of a solar electric power system at Hall’s Warehouse Corporation. See full story from Cleantech.

The seafood industry in Vietnam plans a major upgrade of its cold storage system in terms of technology, quantity and locational distribution in order to meet the export target of US$5.5 billion set for 2015. See full story from VNS.

A former Campbell Soup plant in Listowel, Ontario, Canada has been sold to a Mississauga, Ontario, Canada businessman who plans to turn the facility into a cold storage plant. See full story from The Record.

U.S. pork stored in warehouses fell a surprisingly large 5.6 percent from October to November, suggesting a surge in exports. See full story from Reuters.

Nash-Finch Company acquired a 400,000-sq. ft. warehouse distribution facility in Columbus, Georgia, USA for its distribution business serving military commissaries and exchanges. See full release.

USDA released an updated Cold Storage Report on 22 December 2009. See full report here.