Lineage to open Port of Savannah facility

Importers, grocers and producers using Georgia’s Port of Savannah will have access to a new, 220,000-square-foot facility to handle fresh produce and perishable imports come January.

Novi, Mich.-based Lineage Logistics LLC plans to open a next-generation Lineage Fresh facility in nearby Greenfield that will offer same-day cross-dock operations and provide fumigation, packaging and other value-added services to help customers move produce efficiently to markets across the Southeast, said Jim Henderson, vice president of business development.

The facility will have six rooms and will be able to handle 8,644 pallets.

“We will receive, store and transfer everything from Chilean grapes, Peruvian blueberries, Costa Rican pineapples, Colombian avocados and South American and South African citrus, to name a few,” he said.

The company will aim to serve a market that is within a one-day truck ride from Savannah, reaching about 25% of the U.S. population, Henderson said.

The Savannah facility, like Lineage Fresh locations in Swedesboro, N.J., and the Netherlands, will have the capability to repackage products and get them ready for retail, he said.

Lineage Fresh warehouses maintain multiple ideal temperature zones and will be equipped with ethylene scrubbers to ensure products stay fresh during storage, he added.

Lineage also is developing facilities in Texas and California.