Contents Acknowledgements List of Illustrations List of Respondents Part 1: Introduction 1 Tropics in the Snow: an Introduction 1 The Cold Chain 2 Maritime Reefer Shipping 3 Aim, Preliminary Research Question, and Potential Contributions 4 Independent Reefer Operators and Their Customers and Suppliers 5 Implications of the Industrial Landscape for the Study of Strategy 6 Three Theoretical Dimensions of Business Activity 7 The Structure of the Book 2 The Reefer Industry in a Historical Context 1 The Beginnings: Meat, Bananas and Fish 2 1920s, 1930s, and into the 1940s 3 The 1950s and 1960s 4 The 1970s and 1980s 5 1990s to the Present 6 Summary Part 2: The Independent Reefer Operators 3 Salénrederierna 1 A Fruitful Relationship 2 The Transatlantic Trade 3 The Route to Global Leadership 4 Salén Reefer Services on the Top of the World 5 A Market Downturn and Some New Players on the Reefer Scene 6 Palletisation and Maximal Flexibility 7 Summary4 Cool Carriers 1 Perfresh 2 Bilspedition as Owner: Ship Investments and the Golden 90s that Never Came 3 Höegh and the Others: Broadened Market Presence with Limited Investments 4 Summary5 J. Lauritzen 1 Mediterranean Adventures 2 Worldwide Growth 3 Rebuilding the Fleet after the Second World War 4 Lauritzen Peninsular Reefers 1970-1983: the Shark's Teeth 5 From Beautiful to Economical Ships: the Entry of the ULRCs 6 The Family Class and the Weak 1990s 7 LauritzenCool: Two Market Leaders Become One 8 Armada's New Reefer Venture 9 Summary 6 Seatrade 1 The Management Buy-Out 2 Argentina and the Atlantic Fish Trade 3 The Newbuilding Programme 4 The Seatrade Pool 5 Dammers & Van der Heide 6 Integrating Dammers into Seatrade 7 Internationalizing the Operations 8 In the Turbulent Market of the New Millennium 9 New Partnerships: GreenSea Chartering and Joint Ventures 10 Newbuildings and Reefer-Containerships 11 Green Reefers 12 Summary 7 Japanese Specialized Reefer Companies 1 Japanese Fisheries 2 The Japanese Shipping Companies: NYK and the Others 3 Summary8 From Blue Star Line to Star Reefers 1 Entry into Specialized Reefers 2 Swan Reefer 3 Star Reefers 4 Summary9 Laskaridis and the Hamburg Reefer Cluster 1 Hamburg Sud and the Hamburg Reefer Cluster 2 Summary Part 3: Container Lines and Shippers 10 The Traditional Liner Companies and the Container Lines 1 Maersk 2 Summary11 Fruit Companies and Marketing Boards 1 Chiquita 2 Dole 3 Del Monte 4 Marketing Boards 5 Summary Part 4: Analysis and Conclusions 12 The Independent Reefer Operators from Material, Discursive, and Subjective Perspectives 1 1950s: the Wild Reefers 2 1960s: Rationalizations and Explosive Growth 3 1970s: the Others 4 1980s: Striving for Efficiency 5 1990s: We are Conventional! 6 2000s: Decline and Consolidations13 Snow in the Tropics: Conclusions 1 The Material Dimension 2 The Discursive Dimension 3 The Subjective Dimension Bibliography Index.