Refrigerated Warehousing and Storage Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2034

This report describes and explains the refrigerated warehousing and storage market and covers 2019-2024, termed the historic period, and 2024-2029, 2034F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global refrigerated warehousing and storage market reached a value of nearly $162.77 billion in 2024, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.70% since 2019. The market is expected to grow from $162.77 billion in 2024 to $246.12 billion in 2029 at a rate of 8.62%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.51% from 2029 and reach $370.33 billion in 2034.

Growth in the historic period resulted from the rise in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries, rising consumption of perishable food products, rise in vaccine production and growth in exotic and imported food demand. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were high initial investment costs and energy consumption and operational costs.

Going forward, the growth of e-commerce, government initiatives, increase in agricultural exports and expansion of the cold chain industry will drive the growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the refrigerated warehousing and storage market in the future include limited infrastructures, regulatory compliance challenges and trade wars and tariffs.

North America was the largest region in the refrigerated warehousing and storage market, accounting for 37.70% or $61.36 billion of the total in 2024. It was followed by Asia Pacific, Western Europe and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest- growing regions in the refrigerated warehousing and storage market will be Africa and Asia Pacific where growth will be at CAGRs of 13.97% and 10.40% respectively. These will be followed by Middle East and Eastern Europe where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 9.06% and 8.49% respectively.

The global refrigerated warehousing and storage market is fragmented, with a large number of small players operating in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up to 6.95% of the total market in 2024. The Lineage Logistics Holdings LLC. was the largest competitor with a 2.15% share of the market, followed by AmeriCold Logistics. with 1.34%, Penske Logistics with 0.96%, United States Cold Storage Inc. with 0.64%, Nichirei Corporation with 0.61%, Kenco. with 0.39%, NewCold with 0.32%, Burris Logistics with 0.30%, Tippmann Group with 0.16% and Congebec Logistics Inc. with 0.09%.

The refrigerated warehousing and storage market is segmented by type into cold storage and frozen storage. The frozen storage market was the largest segment of the refrigerated warehousing and storage market segmented by type, accounting for 78.07% or $127.08 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the frozen storage segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the refrigerated warehousing and storage market segmented by type, at a CAGR of 8.63% during 2024-2029.

The refrigerated warehousing and storage market is segmented by ownership into private warehouses, public warehouses and bonded warehouses. The public warehouses market was the largest segment of the refrigerated warehousing and storage market segmented by ownership, accounting for 47.39% or $77.14 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the private warehouses segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the refrigerated warehousing and storage market segmented by ownership, at a CAGR of 9.17% during 2024-2029.

The refrigerated warehousing and storage market is segmented by application into fruits and vegetables, bakery and confectionery, milk and dairy products, meat, seafood, beverages, other applications. The fruits and vegetables market was the largest segment of the refrigerated warehousing and storage market segmented by application, accounting for 21.23% or $34.55 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the meat segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the refrigerated warehousing and storage market segmented by application, at a CAGR of 9.91% during 2024-2029.

The top opportunities in the refrigerated warehousing and storage market segmented by type will arise in the frozen storage segment, which will gain $65.16 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the refrigerated warehousing and storage market segmented by ownership will arise in the public warehouses segment, which will gain $39.41 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the refrigerated warehousing and storage market segmented by application will arise in the fruits and vegetables segment, which will gain $18.85 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The refrigerated warehousing and storage market size will gain the most in the USA at $25.07 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the refrigerated warehousing and storage market include developing energy-efficient cold storage solution, strategic partnership, to expand their geographic presence and enhance service capabilities and strategic investment, to expand infrastructure and strengthen supply chain networks.

Player-adopted strategies in the refrigerated warehousing and storage market include focus on strategic through partnerships and acquisition and focus on expanding its operational capabilities through new launches.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the refrigerated warehousing and storage market companies to focus on developing energy-efficient cold storage to support sustainable logistics, focus on frozen storage to maximize growth and market leadership, focus on public warehouses to capture scale and service flexibility, expand in emerging markets, focus on strategic partnerships to expand cold chain infrastructure in emerging markets, focus on strategic investment to expand cold storage infrastructure and meet sector demand, provide competitively priced offerings, focus on dynamic and value-based pricing to improve revenue optimization, continue to use B2B promotions, focus on local partnerships and events to drive regional visibility, focus on digital targeting and user-generated content to improve online reach and focus on the fruits and vegetables segment to maximize cold chain value.