Cost-cutting, cold storage construction trends and technologies are a major focus of the 30th Annual International Association for Cold Storage and Construction (IACSC) Conference and Expo, Nov. 4-7, 2010.

The Haskell Company, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based design-build firm, said it strengthened its food and beverage industry capabilities with the purchase of E²M, an Atlanta-based manufacturing system integration firm.

Convenience store retailer 7-Eleven Inc., Dallas, said it hired Jesus H. Delgado-Jenkins as senior vice president of merchandising and logistics.

China Merchants Americold Logistics Company Ltd. (CMAC), a 51-49 joint venture between China Merchants Holdings Co. International Ltd. (CMHI) and Americold Realty Trust, Atlanta, said it acquired a 70-percent stake in China Merchants International Cold Chain Co. Ltd.

Officials say a new refrigerated intermodal container rail and distribution service between Quincy, Wash. and Chicago is quickly growing in popularity with produce shippers in the Pacific Northwest.

Americold Realty Trust, Atlanta, said it plans on August 30 to open a public refrigerated warehouse in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Packaging materials supplier Pactiv Corporation, Lake Forest, Ill., said it agreed to be acquired in a $6 billion deal by Reynolds Group Holdings Limited.

Great Dane Limited Partnership said it plans by 2012 to build and open a 450,000-square-foot plant in  Statesboro, Ga., to manufacture more than 5,000 refrigerated trailers per year.

Global material handling equipment supplier Dematic, Luxembourg, said it agreed to purchase North American competitor HK Systems Inc., New Berlin, Wis.

Preferred Freezer Services, Elizabeth, N.J., said its newest, fully automated cold storage facility in Chicago earned LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.