Ohio Refrigeration Trailer Rentals

What drives cold-storage demand in Ohio

Weather and hazards

• Flood (Late winter to spring (March 1913; January-February 1937)): Ohio's state hazard plan rates flooding as its highest-frequency hazard. The Great Flood of 1913 (about 422 to 470 Ohio deaths) and the Ohio River flood of 1937 are the benchmark disasters. Floods can cut power for days and force restaurants and grocers to discard refrigerated stock, which can create a need for emergency cold storage. Source
• Flood (January to February): The 1937 Ohio River flood crested near 80 feet at Cincinnati, left about 100,000 homeless there, cut the city's water supply and flooded Portsmouth's business district. River-valley floods can leave kitchens unusable and food stores unsafe, which can create a need for temporary kitchens and warewashing. Source
• Tornado (Spring (April to June)): Ohio's state hazard plan rates tornadoes as a medium-frequency hazard. The April 3, 1974 Xenia F5 killed 32 people, the deadliest tornado of the Super Outbreak. Tornado damage often cuts power to whole neighborhoods, which can leave food businesses needing temporary refrigeration. Source
• Winter storm (December to March): The Great Blizzard of January 25-27, 1978 hit Ohio hardest, with wind chills near -60 F and 51 Ohio deaths; the entire Ohio Turnpike closed for the first time. Blizzards and ice storms can disrupt deliveries and power, so food operations can need cold storage on short notice. Source
• Heat wave (June to August): The June 29-30, 2012 derecho struck during a record heat wave; Ohio's governor declared a state of emergency citing both the power loss and the heat. Heat combined with outages can overload refrigeration and can leave kitchens without cooling or power. Source

Power outages

• The August 14, 2003 Northeast blackout began in FirstEnergy's Cleveland-Akron area; Cleveland, Akron and Toledo lost power within about 30 minutes, and an estimated 55 million people were affected overall. Grid failures that start in Ohio can leave food businesses without refrigeration for hours to days. Source
• Remnants of Hurricane Ike on September 14, 2008 caused over 927,000 outages in the Cincinnati area and more than 350,000 in central Ohio; Dayton Power & Light had 300,000 of 515,000 customers out, with some outages lasting about a week. Windstorm outages of several days can spoil restaurant and grocery inventory and can create a need for rented refrigeration. Source
• The June 29-30, 2012 derecho left over 1 million Ohio customers without power across roughly two-thirds of the state, and many were out for 5 days or more. Multi-day summer outages often exceed safe food-holding times and can create a need for emergency cold storage. Source

Food and hospitality

• Agriculture-related industries account for about $124 billion of Ohio's economic output, and the state counted 75,462 farms in 2018. A large farm and food economy means many growers, packers and processors that can need seasonal or emergency cold storage. Source
• Ohio ranks 3rd in egg production, 1st in Swiss cheese and 3rd in tomatoes, and Fremont has the world's largest ketchup processing plant. Eggs, cheese and produce are temperature-sensitive, so equipment failures can create demand for temporary refrigerated trailers. Source
• The Port of Toledo is the fifth-busiest on the Great Lakes, and Cleveland's port connects to the Atlantic via the St. Lawrence Seaway. Port and freight activity can create short-term cold staging needs. Source
• Cincinnati is home to Fortune 500 firms including Kroger, and Columbus hosts several large corporate headquarters alongside Ohio State University. Large grocery, consumer-goods and institutional food operations can need temporary refrigeration during outages or remodels. Source