Data Center Logistics From Beginning to End

By Tyler Sullivan

From Issue 3, 2026 of Breakbulk Magazine

(3-minute read)

The data center market has grown well beyond a niche construction vertical, and the breakbulk community has a significant role in delivering it.

JLL forecasts nearly 100 gigawatts (GW) of new data center capacity will be added worldwide between 2026 and 2030, effectively doubling global capacity. Combined with real estate, infrastructure and technology fit-out, the investment required could approach US$3 trillion by the end of the decade.

The power demand is just as steep. The International Energy Agency expects global data center consumption will nearly double by 2030, equivalent to what the entire population of Japan uses.

That demand is creating a large pipeline of construction, equipment deployment and asset removal, and exposing limitations in the current delivery model.

North American primary-market data center supply increased 36% in 2025, reaching more than 9.4 GW, according to CBRE. Yet the amount of capacity under construction declined, from about 6.35 GW to just under 6 GW over the same period. Demand did not decline; projects were delayed by power procurement, permitting, zoning and other execution constraints.

Capacity announced is not the same as capacity commissioned.

Equipment Is Defining the Schedule

A modern hyperscale or AI data center requires a coordinated flow of high-value, long-lead and often oversized equipment, including utility and substation transformers, switchgear, generators, UPS systems, chillers, liquid-cooling systems and server racks.

Many of these assets are engineered to order. Some require specialized lifting, secure transportation, route surveys, temporary storage or controlled environmental conditions. Others are tied to energization and commissioning milestones.

The availability of this equipment is increasingly defining the project schedule.

Lead times for some high-voltage transformers exceeded 160 weeks during the first quarter of 2026, according to Reuters, and lead times for high-voltage circuit breakers reached approximately 125 weeks during the second half of 2025, compared with 77 weeks in 2023.

A transformer with a three-year manufacturing lead time cannot be followed by a transportation plan that begins three weeks before it is ready.

Procurement and logistics must be managed together. The logistics provider should be involved early enough to understand production milestones, factory acceptance testing, equipment specifications, route restrictions and the exact sequence in which equipment must arrive.

The objective is not simply to track the shipment. It is to protect the project schedule. That requires visibility into whether the equipment will complete manufacturing on time, whether the site will be ready to receive it and whether the installation resources will be available when it arrives.

The Last 500 Feet

In my experience, the last 500 feet can be more difficult than the previous 5,000 miles. A truck can arrive on time and the delivery can still fail.

The driver may not be authorized to enter the site. The crew may not be badged. The receiving appointment may have changed, or the crane, forklift or rigging team may not be ready. The designated entrance may not accommodate the equipment, or there may be no secure staging space.

An on-time truck sitting outside a closed gate is a late delivery. A server rack sitting on a loading dock is not a deployed asset.

Mission-critical data center logistics requires more than transportation. It includes site-access coordination, secure chain of custody, appointment management, preapproved personnel, white-glove handling, rigging, final placement, installation support and real-time exception management.

Performance measures should extend beyond pickup and delivery. Owners and logistics providers should track first-attempt delivery acceptance, site dwell time, damage rates and the time between arrival at the facility and final placement.

Those metrics show whether logistics is helping bring capacity online or simply moving freight.

And they matter just as much at the back end of the project. Every asset installed today, from the transformer to the server rack, will eventually be refreshed, relocated or removed. The same discipline required to bring capacity online is required to take it offline.

Security Doesn’t End When the Server Leaves the Rack

Data center decommissioning, commonly referred to as DECOM, is often treated as a disposal project. That is a mistake. It is a reverse infrastructure program involving security, asset control, specialized labor, transportation and documented disposition.

Equipment must be identified, disconnected, inventoried, removed, packaged and transported without disrupting the live environment. Work often must be completed during restricted windows and coordinated around ongoing operations.

Data-bearing equipment requires particular control. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s current media sanitization guidance calls for establishing an enterprise sanitization program with appropriate methods, controls and validation based on the sensitivity of the information involved.

That means the chain of custody cannot end when the server leaves the rack. It must continue through sanitization, reuse or physical destruction.

Asset Recovery Starts on the Loading Dock

There is also residual value in the outbound material. Servers and other components may be reused, refurbished, resold or recycled, and poor handling can destroy that value before the equipment leaves the facility.

Global e-waste is a growing problem. Approximately 62 million tonnes of electronic waste were generated in 2022, but only 22.3% was formally collected and recycled, according to the Global E-waste Monitor, and annual generation is projected to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030.

Microsoft offers one example of a mature reverse supply chain. Its Circular Centers can process as many as 12,000 decommissioned servers per month, and the company reported a 92% reuse and recycling rate for servers and cloud hardware components in 2025.

A credible DECOM program should measure serialized inventory accuracy, sanitization documentation, removal productivity, asset recovery value and incident-free execution.

The final disposition plan should be established before the first asset is disconnected.

Tyler Sullivan is executive vice president of defense solutions at ICAT Logistics. A former Army Ranger with a Master of Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M, his expertise spans ITAR compliance, secure transportation, chartering and end-to-end program management for sensitive, mission-critical cargo in high-risk environments.

Top photo: Microsoft’s first data center facility in the Village of Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, opened ahead of schedule in June. Credit: Microsoft