Port of Oakland and Unicold
Celebrate Grand Opening of Unicold’s New Transload Facility
Port of Oakland and Unicold celebrated the
grand opening of a new transload facility for Unicold
Corporation at the seaport Monday, April 05, 2004. Port of
Oakland Executive Director Tay Yoshitani said, “Unicold has
been at the Port of Oakland since 1992 and we’re proud to be
a part of the process that will give Unicold the opportunity
to more than double their current level of business through
the Port.” Yoshitani added, “Unicold and the Port of Oakland
are working to the same end--providing greater capacity to
handle the expected increase in overseas trade during the
next decade.”
“This is a 20,000 square foot,
state-of-the-art facility. It’s temperature controlled and
significantly larger than Unicold’s former facility at the
Port,” stated Port of Oakland Maritime Director Jerry
Bridges. “Together we’ve taken another important step to
advance business here at the seaport, which in turn benefits
our region.”
Unicold is headquartered in Hawaii and
handles freight consolidation of food products to Hawaii and
Guam. Unicold expanded its operations to Oakland in 1978 and
has been at the Port of Oakland for 12 years. The new
facility is on the Port’s overweight route that can support
up to 95,000 pounds gross. It has 30 truck bays on one side
and rail siding that can hold up to 12 boxcars on the other.
Both the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe
railroads serve this facility. By using the overweight
route, the container loads can be maximized, holding more
product, and reducing the number of truck trips.
According to Darryl Kawano, General
Manager for Unicold Corporation, “This state-of-the-art
facility in Oakland will not only allow us to enhance the
business we handle between Oakland and Hawaii and Guam, but
positions us to expand our freight consolidation business to
the growing Asian and Pacific Rim markets as well.”
The Port of Oakland was established in 1927 as an autonomous
department of the City of Oakland. The Port oversees Oakland
International Airport, the Oakland seaport, and 19 miles of
waterfront. The Oakland seaport handled over 1.9 million
TEUs in 2003 and is the fourth busiest containerport in the
U.S.
For information about Unicold, mail to 555
Maritime Street, Building D516, Oakland, CA 94607, phone
510-834-9212, or visit www.unicoldcorp.com.