The news
Lineage’s same-warehouse physical occupancy rose to 76.2% in the third quarter, up 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier, the cold storage operator said. Customer inventories have stabilized at lower levels, with some accounts continuing to hold less stock.
Storage revenue per occupied pallet fell 2% YoY, while pallet throughput declined 1%.
“Our core business trends continued to stabilize in the third quarter,” said Greg Lehmkuhl, Lineage's president and CEO.
Why it matters: Cold storage space is tightening slowly as the two biggest operators idle capacity, though Lineage still collects less per pallet than a year ago.
The details
Lineage and Americold have reduced their combined capacity by 4% over two years, helping lift occupancy. Lineage has idled 16 locations since the start of 2025, removing 2.6 million square feet and 212,000 pallet positions from its network.
New US cold storage construction is expected to account for 1.6% of existing supply in 2026, down from 4.3% in 2025, Lineage said, citing CBRE data.
Lineage operates 497 facilities with 3.1 billion cubic feet of capacity across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Demand remains soft, with food-related container volumes down 8% from a year earlier. Seafood was particularly weak, as higher fuel costs led fishermen to make fewer trips. Elevated diesel prices also increased Lineage's third-party transportation costs.
Net revenue fell 1% to $1.36 billion, while adjusted EBITDA declined 7% to $317 million.
Same-warehouse power costs rose 12.7%, according to Lineage's results.
Lineage cut its full-year adjusted EBITDA outlook to $1.25 billion to $1.27 billion, including an expected $20 million impact from a fire at a California facility.
Americold’s occupancy improved faster, rising 4.6 percentage points to 70%, compared with Lineage’s 1.1-point increase to 76.2%. Americold also reported stronger operating trends, with same-store revenue up 5.7% in the third quarter, according to its results.
Same-store throughput rose 4.1%.
Storage revenue per occupied pallet increased 1.5%.
Americold also raised its full-year outlook.
What's next
Lineage expects asset sales and insurance recoveries in the first half of 2027 to help reduce leverage toward 5 to 5.5 times EBITDA, from 6.4 times currently.
(Photo: Courtesy of the Port of Virginia)
