Reading, UK: Electricity spend by UK cold stores has doubled between 2021 and 2022, according to a new report.
The report, The Cold Chain Report 2022, published by the Cold Chain Federation, shows that the cold store sector’s electricity costs have grown from £560.6m in 2021 to an estimated £1.1bn for 2022.
The report shows the volume of UK cold storage has topped 40m cubic metres, a 10% increase since 2021.
Tom Southall, policy director, Cold Chain Federation, said: “With energy prices rocketing, the cost of refrigerating cold storage facilities has soared too, despite the great progress our industry has made over the past decade in improving energy efficiency and investing in renewables.
“Cold chain businesses continue to focus on the buying and contract options for fuel, electric and other supplies, and on making sure contracts with customers are sharing the increases in the best and most realistic way possible”.
The report brings together new research with existing datasets to present the industry’s key facts and figures, including cold storage and temperature-controlled distribution.
“The cold chain is in the midst of a major transition and access to up-to-date, comprehensive data is crucial to understanding exactly what is changing and how, and in turn to assessing the impacts and making informed decisions for the future,” Southall said.
“Over the past three years our industry has earned new appreciation and built new relationships among politicians and policy makers, and the new Cold Chain Report will also provide data to support our work to influence decisions and ensure the cold chain industry’s voice is heard.
“The Cold Chain Report 2022 is the first report bringing together quantitative information on cold storage and temperature-controlled vehicles, and is a milestone in the Cold Chain Federation’s commitment to research, gather and analyse data that serves and informs our industry,” the federation said.
“It has also enabled us to identify gaps in useful data and we will work with our members to create these datasets for subsequent iterations of the report,” the federation said.
Key findings of report:
- the East Midlands has the highest number of cold stores (175), followed by southeast England (152) and then Yorkshire and Humber (146).
- the average size of a UK cold store is 95,693 cubic metres.
- the total volume of cold storage in the UK exceeds 40m cubic metres
- there are 25 UK sites over 300,000 cubic metres
- electricity cost of cold storage has doubled from £560.6m in 2021 to an estimated £1.1bn this year
- more than half of cold stores are more than 20 years old
- Cold Chain Federation members operate 21,184 vehicles over 3.5 tonnes
- Cold Chain Federation members operate 42,021 truck fridges
- diesel cost at full duty rates has risen from £122.28m in June 2021 to £322.174m in June 2022.
This post was amended to correct the following:
- the electricity cost figures have increased to £1.1bn not £1.6bn as previously stated
- this means electricity costs doubled in a year not tripled as stated
- diesel cost at full duty rates has risen from £122.28m in June 2021 to £322.174m in June 2022.
