With Food Tariffs Easing, Lineage Prepares to Help Customers Capture Emerging Market Gains
Lineage, Inc. (NASDAQ: LINE), the world’s largest global temperature-controlled warehouse real estate investment trust (REIT) and a leading force in the global cold chain industry, has announced a significant expansion of its import and export service capabilities. The enhanced offerings are designed to help food manufacturers, processors, and distributors move goods in and out of the United States with greater confidence, speed, and flexibility—especially as shifting trade policies create new windows of opportunity.
The announcement comes on the heels of last Friday’s news regarding the rollback of tariffs on more than 200 food products. This change in trade conditions is prompting global food companies to reassess their supply chain strategies and explore cost-saving opportunities. In response, Lineage is positioning itself as a strategic partner equipped with world-class cold chain facilities, integrated logistics services, and deep expertise across global markets.
“With new movement in trade policy, the ability to pivot quickly is essential,” said Chris Skraba, Head of Business Development for Lineage in North America. “At times of inflection in policy or market conditions, Lineage offers a unique ability to move with our customers because we can offer warehousing, transportation, and port services under one roof. Whether the tariff rollback is the right market opportunity or customers just want to make sure they’re well positioned going forward, Lineage has invested strategically in integrated transportation and import/export expertise to help companies move product across borders seamlessly and efficiently.”
A Comprehensive Suite of Global Supply Chain Services
To help customers execute cross-border movements with efficiency and compliance, Lineage now offers a broadened array of integrated services that can manage a product’s entire journey—from origin pick-up and transportation to storage, inspection, customs clearance, and final delivery. These expanded capabilities help clients respond to regulatory changes, reduce shipping delays, extend shelf life, and maintain product quality across long distances.
Key components of Lineage’s enhanced service platform include:
• Bonded warehousing at more than 60 global facilities.
Lineage operates a vast network of bonded warehouses—secure and customs-regulated sites where imported goods can be stored prior to customs clearance. This gives customers more flexibility and control, especially when navigating new tariff rules or anticipating future regulatory shifts.
• Bonded transportation services.
Customers can move goods between bonded facilities without triggering duty payments. This creates a smoother flow of cargo between ports, warehouses, and inland distribution hubs, enabling businesses to optimize duty management and defer costs strategically.
• Extensive USDA Inspection (I-House) capabilities.
Across 42 U.S. facilities, Lineage provides on-site USDA-approved inspection operations that specialize in meat, poultry, and select seafood products, including catfish. These facilities help importers shorten inspection wait times, reduce handling risks, and move products faster into the distribution stream.
• Blast-freezing at more than 100 global sites.
The company’s global blast-freezing infrastructure helps exporters lock in freshness and quality before goods depart port. For protein and seafood producers, these capabilities are critical in safeguarding product integrity and meeting international quality standards.
• Port-centric warehousing at over 220 locations.
Lineage’s network has been intentionally designed with port-centricity in mind, placing cold storage capacity close to major global trade gateways. This gives customers immediate access to temperature-controlled logistics capacity at the world’s busiest ports, reducing drayage time and increasing operational efficiency.
• Freight forwarding across multiple continents.
Operating in the U.S., UK, Netherlands, Poland, and South Africa—and supported by strong partnerships in additional markets—Lineage’s freight forwarding teams can manage the full movement of goods via ocean, air, and road. This end-to-end coordination empowers customers with visibility, efficiency, and reliability in today’s complex logistics environment.
• Customs brokerage services.
Beyond food products, Lineage provides customs clearance support for all commodity types. Its brokerage teams help customers navigate shifting regulations, documentation requirements, and the many compliance hurdles that come with international trade across the U.S., UK, and European Union.
A Dedicated Team for Seamless Import and Export Execution
Supporting all of these capabilities is Lineage’s Import and Export Excellence Team—an elite group of more than 20 specialists dedicated solely to managing the complexities of cross-border food logistics. The team focuses on documentation, compliance requirements, and process optimization to help customers reduce risks and avoid costly errors that could result in storage penalties, shipment delays, or regulatory violations.
Led by Dr. Stephen Neel, Vice President of Global Food Optimization, the team brings together experts in food safety, global trade, customs operations, temperature-controlled logistics, and regulatory affairs. With their guidance, shipments can move smoothly into more than 120 global export markets or pass efficiently through U.S. customs and inspection protocols.
“International logistics will always bring complexity, and as the last year has shown, trade regulation and policy can be incredibly dynamic,” said Neel. “Reflecting this, Lineage’s experts collaborate across service lines to deliver a single, unified experience for customers that affords them the ability to make quick decisions, experience fewer delays and, ultimately, have confidence that their products are handled correctly from start to finish.”
Neel emphasized that Lineage’s integrated model—spanning cold storage, transportation, forwarding, brokerage, and inspection—creates a streamlined ecosystem that reduces fragmentation and simplifies the customer experience. In a global marketplace where regulations shift rapidly and demand patterns change overnight, this unified approach can be a significant competitive advantage for food companies.
Poised to Help Customers Navigate a New Era of Trade Opportunity
As tariffs ease and companies begin recalibrating their routes and strategies, Lineage is preparing to support a broad range of customer needs—from those looking to expand exports to new international markets to importers seeking to benefit from lower duty costs on key commodities.
Food manufacturers, agricultural exporters, protein producers, seafood suppliers, and retailers will all stand to gain from the company’s expanded services. With its unmatched global cold chain footprint, deep regulatory expertise, and end-to-end logistics capabilities, Lineage is positioning itself as the strategic resource companies need to make informed decisions and move quickly in a changing trade landscape.
By bringing warehousing, inspection, transportation, and compliance solutions together under one umbrella, Lineage is not only helping customers optimize their supply chains in the present moment—it is giving them the confidence and agility to respond proactively to whatever global trade conditions come next.
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