Great White Fleet

Name

Great White Fleet

Legal name

Great White Fleet

Website

https://greatwhitefleet.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1920

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Great White Fleet is the ocean shipping division of Chiquita Brands, operating specialized refrigerated container shipping and integrated cold-chain logistics for perishable-cargo shippers across the Americas and Europe. It monetizes via quote-based ocean freight bookings and ancillary inland logistics through subsidiary GWF Logistics, Corp.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Refrigerated Ocean Freight & Cold-Chain Logistics

NAICS

Deep Sea, Coastal, and Great Lakes Water Transportation (48311), Support Activities for Water Transportation (4883)

SIC

Deep Sea Foreign Transportation Of Freight (4412), Water Transportation (4400)

akta.pro primary industry

Reefer/Temperature-Controlled Ocean Forwarding (TLACABAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Temperature-Controlled Ocean Freight (Reefer Containers) (TLACAMAG)

Keywords

• Reefer ocean shipping
• Refrigerated container transport
• Cold-chain logistics
• Maritime freight services
• Inland transportation services

Headquarters

HQ city

Cincinnati

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Reefer Container Shipping (Ocean Freight): Primary revenue stream from ocean transportation of refrigerated cargo in reefer containers, booked per shipment via quote-based pricing; covers tropical ports to global markets across Americas and Europe.
2. Integrated Cold-Chain Logistics Services: Door-to-door ancillary services beyond port-to-port, including inland haulage coordination, port-side cold storage, and customs support, sold alongside core shipping bookings.
3. GWF Logistics, Corp. — Inland & Global Transportation: Revenue from the company's own inland/global transportation division providing trucking, intermodal and inland logistics, including a new rail link connecting Chicago to Gulfport.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Great White Fleet provides refrigerated (reefer) ocean container shipping of perishable cargo — produce, frozen food, and other agricultural goods — from tropical ports in the Americas to destinations across the Americas and Europe. The offering is backed by a modernized reefer fleet (75% upgraded in the last four years), online origin-to-destination cargo tracking, published sailing schedules, and an integrated inland logistics arm (GWF Logistics, Corp.) covering inland haulage, port-side cold storage, and customs support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Reefer Ocean Shipping Service Full-service refrigerated ocean container shipping from tropical ports in the Americas to destinations across the Americas and Europe, with continuous temperature monitoring, route optimization, and a modernized fleet (75% upgraded in the past four years). Targeted at shippers of perishable cargo such as produce, frozen food, and agricultural goods.
• GWF Logistics, Corp. — Inland & Global Transportation
• Dry, Automotive & Project Cargo Equipment Shipping

Quantifiable outcome

• 75% of fleet upgraded in the last four years
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators4 records

Direct peers

• Cool Carriers: Cool Carriers is a Sweden-based specialist reefer shipping company with a fleet of modern reefer vessels serving fruit and perishable cargo trades. Its focus on dedicated reefer tonnage for produce exporters makes it a direct functional competitor to Great White Fleet's reefer-only ocean service.
• Crowley Maritime: Crowley Maritime is a US-based ocean logistics and shipping company with significant reefer and perishable cargo capability in the Americas and Caribbean. Its geographic overlap with GWF in tropical and North-South American trades makes it a close direct peer for reefer and cold-chain customers.
• Star Reefers: Star Reefers is a Norwegian-based specialized reefer ocean carrier operating a fleet of reefer vessels worldwide. It is one of the few remaining pure-play reefer specialists and competes head-to-head with Great White Fleet in temperature-controlled ocean shipping of perishables.

Broad incumbents

• Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC): MSC is the largest container shipping line globally by capacity and operates significant reefer capacity across all major trades. Its deep schedule coverage and pricing scale make it a broad incumbent competitor for reefer shippers that GWF serves.
• CMA CGM: CMA CGM is a global container shipping leader with extensive reefer capacity across Americas-Europe and intra-Americas trades. Its scale, integrated logistics arm (CEVA Logistics), and reefer investment compete with GWF for shipper wallet share in perishables.
• Hapag-Lloyd: Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world's largest container carriers and a major reefer operator with strong transatlantic and Americas-Europe coverage. Its broad-line container network and dedicated reefer services overlap with GWF's core trade lanes.
• A.P. Moller-Maersk: Maersk is the world's largest container shipping line with a substantial reefer division serving perishable cargo globally. Although reefer is a sub-segment of its broader container business, Maersk competes with GWF for tropical produce volumes and end-to-end cold-chain contracts.

Others

• Americold: Americold is a major global cold storage operator with extensive port-adjacent and inland temperature-controlled facilities. It is an adjacent competitor and potential partner for the cold-chain portions of GWF's integrated offering.
• Lineage Logistics: Lineage Logistics is one of the world's largest temperature-controlled warehousing and cold-chain logistics providers. While not an ocean carrier, it competes for end-to-end cold-chain contracts that GWF targets through its inland and storage offerings.
• Kuehne+Nagel: Kuehne+Nagel is one of the largest global freight forwarders with significant perishable logistics and reefer ocean freight forwarding capability. It competes for cold-chain shipper contracts and is a frequent alternative channel to direct reefer carriers like GWF.

Market position

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Great White Fleet