Prospects for a major expansion of Maine’s role in the business of refrigerated cargo exports will improve dramatically with the anticipated 2024 completion of the Maine International Cold Storage Facility, now under construction on the Portland waterfront.

The new facility is expected to meet the refrigerated cargo demand of Icelandic shipping company Eimskip and be large enough to accommodate customers from food, beverage, and bio-pharmaceutical industries in Maine, New England, and beyond. The Hannaford Hall panel included Wade Merritt, president of Maine International Trade Center; Matthew Burns, executive director of Maine Port Authority; and Peter Rahn, Director of Quality and Food Innovation at Atlantic Sea Farms, the leading seaweed aquaculture company in the United States. The discussion was moderated by Carol Coultas, business projects editor of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.