Cold Chain Logistics in Griffith

Griffith is the service centre for the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, one of Australia’s most productive farming districts. Its freight task is built on food and wine. The Riverina grows around 30 per cent of Australia’s citrus, is the country’s largest citrus region, and is the second-largest wine region in the nation. Rice, poultry and vegetables add to the volume moving out of the irrigated country around the city, and Griffith sits roughly 600 kilometres from both Sydney and Melbourne, so local product travels a long way to reach either market.

The extensive canal network of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area is what makes this production possible, carrying water across a district the size of a small country. Griffith’s own processing base is substantial, with Casella at Yenda (the Yellow Tail winery), De Bortoli at Bilbul and poultry processing at Hanwood all within a short drive of the city. Road freight along the Kidman Way and Burley Griffin Way, together with rail access through Wagga to the north-east, pulls this produce into national distribution networks and export markets.

Most of the businesses we work with in the Riverina move product with a firm shelf life: packed citrus and table grapes, poultry, and processed foods. Temperature control is what protects that product across the distances involved, because fruit that leaves Griffith warm arrives in Sydney or Melbourne with days already gone from its saleable life. Icelander brings refrigerated transport, cold storage and the wider cold chain together so goods hold their condition between the packing shed, the distribution centre and the customer.