Heat Waves and Mega Storms Are Creating New Challenges for Art Storage and Logistics

Unless you’ve been trapped in an air-conditioned room since May, summer this year has been pretty miserable. Temperatures have been so high that the global heat record was set two days in a row. The heat waves start earlier, last longer, and don’t break in the evenings. And now, here comes hurricane season.

Fine art storage companies are hyper-aware of extreme temperatures and high humidity levels—not to mention hurricane conditions—due to strict industry standards, new climate-control systems, and the mounting expenses and logistical challenges from growing demand for client services.

“Frankly, it feels like things aren’t getting better,” said Francis Petit, director of the New York office for art logistics firm Gander & White. “The current climate changes are exactly what you do not want when you store art.”

Gander & White established its first location in New York, a 30,000-square-foot warehouse in Long Island City, in 1986; in 2013, the company expanded with an additional 60,000-square-foot location for its offices, packing shop, crates and storage in a renovated building on 33rd Street. That building dates to 1964. Petit said its thick walls, typical of that era of construction, are helpful for maintaining temperatures, but they make it more difficult to install and update heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and other computer-based climate-control systems.  

Petit, who manages storage for galleries, auction houses, private collectors, and institutions, noted that the summer weather in New York has become harsher in the last decade, with longer heat waves, more frequent heavy rains, and flooding from hurricanes and tropical storms. “We do have less snow, but generally speaking, I’d say the elements become more and more violent,” he said.

Art shipping and storage companies seek to avoid abrupt changes in temperature and humidity as much as possible to prevent possible damage, especially to antique works on wood panels, paper, and wax prints. “Those are the ones that are most fragile,” Petit said. “If you’re not careful, especially with humidity, the work will move, and unfortunately, it can create cracks.” 

To maintain steady and stable climate-controlled environments for art storage, Petit estimated that Gander & White’s New York facility consumes two to three times more electricity in the summer for its HVAC system, as well as its humidity monitoring. Data provided by Petit also showed a 6 to 10 percent increase in the New York facility’s electricity consumption since 2020.

When it comes to Gander & White’s Palm Beach and Miami offices, there are additional logistical challenges for art transportation and storage services, especially during hurricane season. 

Gander & White director Gilles de Greling told ARTnews that every storm is different and that he no longer offers guarantees for hurricane protection and preparedness plans. “With the 22 years experience I have, I can tell you that it puts us in a very difficult position to offer a guarantee that we can service our clients appropriately in the event of a hurricane,” he said. “You cannot expect us to just show up at your door at the worst possible time, rushing to try to save your collection.”

Even with up-to-date government data, de Greling and his staff only know approximately five to seven days beforehand when a hurricane or tropical storm will arrive, and whether it will hit straight on, sideways, or not at all. Only with that knowledge can they notify a client that their art needs to be moved. “If it’s a bad one, I may lose staff, I may lose fuel, I may lose access to actually operate,” de Greling said. “We may not be able to provide diesel fuel for our trucks, or our staff may not be able to provide fuel for their cars to come to work. They will want to prepare their own homes to protect their family.” 

Gander & White also has to clean and secure its own 85,000 square feet of storage facilities in Florida to reduce the possibility of flying vehicles or debris. And pre-hurricane weather often means windy conditions and rain, which are suboptimal for moving large artworks. “My philosophy as an art handler is, the less you move [those artworks], the better off you are,” de Greling said, noting his previous experience working at Sotheby’s as an art shipper between 1997 and 2000. “You should only move it when there’s a valid reason.”

As a result, de Greling focuses on his staff and art storage facilities in Florida being prepared to receive items, as well as advising clients to be proactive and start storing items in June and July. “That does not mean the entire collection has to come to us for storage on the first of June,” he said. “It means that if they have 20 paintings to select either the very difficult paintings to move, either because they’re oversized, or because they’re very heavy, or sometimes because of value.”

In some cases, Gander & White’s staff also will offer to go to a client’s residence, where they can photograph and document every piece of art that needs to be moved in the event of an extreme storm. This allows de Greling and his staff to make recommendations, provide moving materials, and determine which items should be relocated into a client’s home or into storage proactively.

There’s also the simple issue of staff logistics. Both Petit and de Greling emphasized the difficulty of finding, training, and retaining people knowledgeable in the storage and transportation of artworks from collections valued in the high millions. “We’re not picking up guys on the street to pick up your art,” de Greling said with a laugh.