Jeff Lyskoski, executive vice president sales and marketing at HFS. Its new 92,400-square-foot Hawaii headquarters, opening in early 2026 on 3 acres of industrial property in the heart of Honolulu, will be the most technologically advanced multimodal shipping facility of its kind in the state, offering ground, ocean, and air freight services. It also supports continued growth in Hawaii and Guam for sensitive, oversized, and refrigerated goods. This building follows the recent completion of the HFS Tacoma facility, with planned expansion for the Maui and Montebello, California, facilities next. Infrastructure Advantage HFS operates five facilities in Hawaii and four facilities along the U.S. West Coast to process temperature-sensitive cargo for movement to, from, and throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Facilities include cold rooms on site to receive, store, and keep the cold chain intact. This is a significant advantage as compared to receiving shipments on a dry cross-dock environment before moving them into refrigerated and frozen containers. Hawaii presents a unique opportunity for cold chain providers, with the most common access to and from the islands being the U.S. West Coast. Although ocean providers do call on the Port of Honolulu directly from Asia and other countries, economics and sailing frequently result in products being sent to the West Coast and then transloaded into other equipment before moving to destination points in Hawaii. “HFS is well positioned at each of the ports along the U.S. West Coast to transload and consolidate chilled, frozen, and dry temperature-sensitive products, and load them on containers destined directly for each island, all while managing refrigerated needs,” Lyskoski says. The upcoming consolidation of the existing dry, refrigerated, and frozen facilities into the new Hawaii headquarters will increase efficiency throughout HFS divisions and expand
Honolulu Freight Service can maintain an unbroken cold chain throughout the life of a shipment, thanks to new facilities and leading technologies.
without compromising freshness, safety, or delivery windows. “If you’re good at produce, you can move anything,” says Kouten. “It’s a category that demands knowledge of both the product and the driver. That rigor elevates all of our processes.” Despite its growing digital infrastructure, Genpro’s strength lies in its people and their ability to forge meaningful, long-term partnerships. “This is still a people business,” says Kouten. “We take a buyer’s approach to every relationship, because when something goes wrong in transit, we feel it too. That shared sense of urgency is what makes us a true partner—not just a logistics provider.” Honolulu Freight Service: Connecting the Pacific With Cold Chain Logistics Demand for the movement of perishable fresh foods, temperature- sensitive pharmaceuticals, and other specialized goods such as meal kits have all increased in recent years, according to Honolulu Freight Service (HFS), Hawaii’s largest less-than-container load shipping company. To maintain an unbroken cold chain throughout the life of a shipment, HFS is relying on new facilities and leading technologies. The company is investing tens of millions of dollars into its infrastructure and processes to support clients, notes
of a potential risk, they can immediately troubleshoot with full visibility shared across all stakeholders. Fighting Freight Fraud As freight fraud continues to rise, particularly in high-value commodities like produce, dairy, and frozen goods, Genpro’s vetting process becomes a critical differentiator. Every carrier in Genpro’s vast and qualified network is thoroughly vetted, and many are equipped with telematics, ELD, and geofencing tech to ensure security, visibility, and compliance. By integrating tracking visibility directly into carrier assignment workflows, Genpro helps reduce fraud risk and increase operational clarity. “By making sure the right carrier is on the right shipment, supported by the right tech, we build confidence with our shippers,” says Kouten.
Genpro’s origins in perishable produce logistics created a high
standard for quality, time sensitivity, and compliance. Those same disciplines now extend to a broader range of temperature- controlled freight; from dairy and seafood to dry and frozen goods, delivered with pharma-grade precision. With advanced alerting systems, temperature excursion prevention, and regulatory compliance support, Genpro enables shippers to move sensitive products across borders, ports, and DCs
PHOTO COURTESY OF HONOLULU FREIGHT SERVICE
50 Inbound Logistics • August 2025
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