Spotlight on Lineage in the Midwest: the crossroads of America’s cold chain

America’s heartland has always played a quiet but crucial role in the movement of food across the country. From grain and protein production to rail corridors and interstate highways, the Midwest functionally sits at the center of the nation’s supply chain. It’s the nation’s crossroads, connecting coasts, borders and inland markets every day.

For Lineage, the Midwest is a foothold where global imports move inland, where domestic food reaches millions of consumers and where flexibility matters just as much as scale. Across more than 35 facilities spanning Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, Lineage helps food flow coast-to-coast and border-to-border with the speed, reliability and purpose our customers have come to rely on.

Connected for efficiency

The Midwest network is defined by efficiency. It’s a hardworking system built around backbone services, automation and flexible strategies, designed to move large volumes of food without the friction.

Across the region, Lineage operates over 860,000 pallet positions, supported by more than 8.5 million square feet and 284 million cubic feet of cold storage space. Automated and multi-temperature warehouses allow customers to store, condition and stage a wide range of products through a single, connected network.

Temperature-controlled rail plays a central role here. Lineage’s Midwest facilities support the movement of freight from the West Coast to the interior by rail at roughly one-third the cost and triple the volume of traditional over-the-road options. That efficiency isn’t theoretical—it’s built into how the network operates day to day, helping reduce handoffs and keep product moving with fewer delays.

Connected for expediency

Speed matters in the Midwest, especially when food needs to reach most of the continental U.S. within days—not weeks.

The region is built around a dense web of highways, interstates and rail corridors. This allows for quick distribution in every direction. Lineage’s access to Chicago’s intermodal rail network strengthens cross-country connections, while drayage from inland ports and rail yards helps get inbound and outbound shipments where they need to be, quickly and efficiently.

Shuttle services, over-the-road transportation, Velocities multivendor consolidation and less than truckload (LTL) options provide even more flexibility when routes change or volumes fluctuate. Rail siding at key facilities in Chicago and Indianapolis enable direct warehouse-to-rail loading, helping shorten transit time and simplify strategies. Freight forwarding services round it all out, supporting seamless import and export flows across borders.

Connected for seasonality

Its central location allows food to be redistributed efficiently, even as seasonal demand picks up and falls off. Lineage is built to take on those shifts with value-added services designed to protect product safety and integrity while keeping supply chains flexible.

Services like blast freezing, repacking and industrial microwave tempering help customers manage those high-volume, time-sensitive products. X-ray inspection and multi-temperature storage add another layer of quality control, while crossdocking supports retail programs and quick-turn inventories during periods of high demand. Broad import and export capabilities make it easier for businesses to adjust as the markets change, all without disrupting the flow of food.

Market spotlight: Greater Chicago

As one of the nation’s largest distribution hubs, Lineage’s Chicago network brings together rail, road and warehousing in a way few markets can match.

Lineage’s Greater Chicago network includes 12 facilities offering a full suite of cold chain services. USDA import and export inspections support compliance with cross-border trade, while pre-inspection capabilities help streamline complex border crossings. A new rail program allows product to move from Chicago to Mexico in five days or less, extending reach well beyond the U.S. market.

Repacking, tempering and transloading services support even the most complex product flows, while the Velocities multivendor consolidation program strengthens retail delivery by improving efficiency across shared lanes. In total, the Chicago network provides over 500,000 pallet positions, 4.2 million square feet and 162 million cubic feet of cold storage capacity.

Market spotlight: Great Lakes (Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio)

The Great Lakes market brings port-centric strength inland, combining rail access, USDA inspections and major interstate connections across Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio.

This part of the Midwest supports efficient movement from inland facilities to East Coast markets through integrated transportation services. Customers benefit from consumer packaged goods (CPG) services, quick-freeze capabilities and comprehensive import and export support.

At Lineage’s Stevens Point, Wisconsin location, protein boxing services add another layer of specialization—supporting protein processors and exporters with solutions designed for both efficiency and compliance. Across the Great Lakes market, Lineage offers more than 250,000 pallet positions, 2.8 million square feet and 79 million cubic feet of storage capacity, strengthening inland access for seafood, produce, proteins and processed goods.

Market spotlight: Greater Indianapolis

Positioned near major interstates and the Chicago corridor, Lineage’s Greater Indianapolis network serves as a reliable nexus within the nation’s interior.

Lineage’s three facilities in the market support rail siding, blast freezing, import and export services, CPG operations and managed and on-demand shipping. Strong LTL capabilities and the Velocities multivendor consolidation at our Hobart, Indiana facility help retailers and distributors move smaller volumes efficiently while maintaining cold chain integrity.

Together, these sites provide over 50,000 pallet positions, 570,000 square feet and 16 million cubic feet of cold storage, making Indianapolis an ideal transition point for freight moving across the country.

How Lineage connects the Midwest to the world

What makes the Lineage’s Midwest network work isn’t any single facility or service—it’s how everything connects.

The region acts as a pivot point between ports, coasts, Mexico and Canada. Freight forwarding, drayage, bonded warehousing, transportation and supply chain engineering all work together to amplify efficiency and visibility across the cold chain. That integration helps customers move product inland faster, reduce complexity and respond to change without losing momentum.

Whether food is arriving from overseas or heading out to global markets, Lineage’s Midwest network supports the full journey.