Port of Wilmington Cold Storage

Project Overview

The Port of Wilmington Cold Storage facility is a 100,000 square foot frozen warehouse facility on the state port in Wilmington, North Carolina. It’s the first Cold Storage Facility at the Port and offers companies the opportunity to distribute their inventory locally, nationally, and globally.

The Opportunity

USA InvestCo (USAI) formed a partnership with the State of North Carolina to build the first and only cold storage facility on the Port of Wilmington in North Carolina. Through collaboration with the North Carolina State Port Authority, the Department of Transportation, Department of Agriculture and local government agencies, USAI embarked on this industrious project to capitalize on North Carolina’s necessity for a cold storage facility on the Port.

The Need

Wilmington, North Carolina is a flourishing port city, designated as a foreign trade zone. The Port of Wilmington is a major hub for global exportation of refrigerated pork and poultry products. However, the Port of Wilmington did not have a cold storage facility. A Cold Storage Facility is a refrigerated warehouse facility used to maintain a specific temperature for the storage of harvested and perishable goods.

North Carolina’s $70 billion agriculture industry relies heavily on transporting goods and keeping items properly stored during the transportation process. Many of the exported products require refrigeration to remain fresh and to maximize their value. Perishable food items requiring refrigeration and a climate-controlled environment are kept in a Cold Storage Facility. Because the Port of Wilmington did not have a Cold Storage Facility, exporters of perishable goods were forced to use other Ports out-of-state with this facility. This not only caused them additional transportation costs by having to truck their products further, it was a missed opportunity for keeping business in North Carolina and creating jobs in the area.

The State of North Carolina longed for a cold storage facility on the Port of Wilmington for many years due to the convenient location and close proximity to a number of large agriculture producing companies. By constructing the Port of Wilmington Cold Storage Facility we were able to add features to the Port of Wilmington like convenience, logistical support, expandable storage, a reduction in spoilage, expedition of delivery time, and allow companies to save a substantial amount on transportation costs (no need to truck products out-of-state). Not to mention, businesses that were forced to use out-of-state Ports…are now able to stay in North Carolina, which in turn brings a considerable amount of both direct and indirect jobs.

North Carolina is already a major producer and exporter of turkey, poultry, pork and sweet potatoes, and will see continual growth in these industries. Based on present industry demand and future growth, USAI’s EB-5 project allows the Port of Wilmington in North Carolina the opportunity to be a more competitive player in the global market, and create a potential return on investment.

The Location

North Carolina (NC) is the fastest-growing state in the Eastern United States with a population of almost 10 million, is the 10th most populous state, and spans 48,617 square miles. North Carolina is centrally located on the East Coast of the United States, midway between New York City and Miami.

  • Agriculture is one of North Carolina’s leading industries, contributing a staggering $70 billion annually to the State’s economy.
  • NC consistently ranks in the Top 10 places to live in the U.S.
  • Many of the World’s Top 500 Company’s have headquarters in NC. There are 273 Fortune 500 companies represented in Charlotte alone.
  • Raleigh, the capital of NC, was ranked #1 in the “Real Estate Markets to Watch in 2012” by Builders Magazine.
  • Charlotte is the state’s largest city with a growing population of 731,424. Charlotte is home to the Carolina Panthers (NFL), Charlotte Bobcats (NBA), and auto racing (NASCAR).
  • NC’s ferry system is the largest on the East Coast and the 2nd largest in the nation, annually transporting nearly 2.5 million passengers and 1.3 million vehicles.

More information can be found at www.pwcold.com

Photos