As the curve of the COVID-19 spread starts to flatten in the U.S., the economy is beginning to open up more and more. For industry providers this means handling an increase in consumer demand in addition to aspects of reopening that all businesses face, such as reintegrating employees.
While the essential transport of food products and medical supplies did not cease during coronavirus shutdowns, it was changed in other ways. For example, the storage and transit of products required stricter regulations specific to preventing the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, the shutdown of restaurants and other commercial prepared food providers significantly lowered the capacity of the food production, export, and storage industries.
Now that states are allowing the reopening of restaurants and many other nonessential components of the economy, we are all working through the inevitable rebound. At Minnesota Freezer Warehouse Company, we’re working to protect food safety practices and maintain the cold chain with our comprehensive cold storage in the Upper Midwest.
MFWC provides dry, refrigerated, and frozen storage warehousing in a key location on major transit lines. We work with global providers of food and other products that require climate-controlled environments during storage and transport. As the economy reopens, we are implementing several new practices to handle components of how all our cold storage systems will be affected.
Workers: To protect our employees and continue preventing the spread of the coronavirus, we have instigated specific sanitation and disinfecting routines. This includes the supply of PPE, pre-work checks regarding temperature, travel, and exposure, and complete adherence to state and federal regulations.
Storage: We import, store, and export goods from both U.S. coasts and borders. This means we face a broad range of potential exposure locations. While sanitation regulations and effective storage practices have worked against cross-contamination and the spread of the virus since the start of the pandemic, the reopening of the economy required us to adjust practices to handle an increase in flow. By expanding effective, safe cold storage practices to meet growing demand, we can protect the cold chain and prevent disease spread.
Transit: We work with trusted 3PL providers to schedule rail and freight transit of goods to and from our warehouse locations. Large-scale providers like Union Pacific are also working to expand best practices for sanitation that were put into place at the beginning of the COVID-19 spread in the U.S. In addition to large-scale transit, our 3PL partners connect us with local and remote transportation systems that can bring much-needed goods to rural areas across the U.S. while practicing food safety measures.
Rebounds: With every stage of the reopening of the economy, we will continue to see rapid rebounds of demand and potentially dramatic increases in food production and other industries. We’re prepared to work together with our customers and transit providers to handle each challenge those rebounds may bring while continuing to adhere to disease prevention practices.
To learn more about our services for cold storage in the Upper Midwest, contact MFWC at (507) 373-1477 or info@mfwc-cold.com today.