Description of the Business - Narrative (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands, R$ in Millions, ft³ in Billions														3 Months Ended	8 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 30, 2020 USD ($) facility shares	Dec. 29, 2020 $ / shares shares	Nov. 09, 2020 shares	Nov. 02, 2020 USD ($)	Oct. 16, 2020 $ / shares shares	Aug. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Mar. 06, 2020 USD ($)	Mar. 06, 2020 BRL (R$)	Jan. 02, 2020 USD ($)	Jan. 02, 2020 CAD ($)	Nov. 19, 2019 USD ($)	May 01, 2019 USD ($)	Feb. 01, 2019 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2020 BRL (R$)	Apr. 16, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($) warehouse $ / shares shares ft³	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Mar. 09, 2020 $ / shares shares	Mar. 08, 2020 shares	Aug. 26, 2019 USD ($)
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Warehouse volume | ft³																1.4
Number of warehouses | warehouse																238
Common shares, par value (in USD per share) | $ / shares															$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.01		$ 0.01
Common shares, shares authorized (in shares) | shares																325,000,000	250,000,000		325,000,000	250,000,000
Preferred shares, shares authorized (in shares) | shares																25,000,000
Preferred shares, par value (in USD per share) | $ / shares															$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Preferred shares, issued (in shares) | shares																0
Preferred shares, outstanding (in shares) | shares																0
Underwriting fees and other offering costs																$ 0	$ 0	$ 8,205,000
Share price (in usd per share) | $ / shares		$ 36.15
Aggregate cash consideration																1,858,937,000	1,319,905,000	0
Aggregate cash consideration																25,538,000	85,216,000	0
Cash investments in joint venture																$ 26,229,000	$ 0	$ 0
Superfrio
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Equity interest							14.99%	14.99%						14.99%		14.99%
Cash investments in joint venture							$ 25,700,000	R$ 117.8						R$ 117.8
Caspers Cold Storage
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Aggregate cash consideration						$ 25,600,000
MHW Group Inc.
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Aggregate cash consideration											$ 51,600,000
PortFresh Holdings, LLC
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Aggregate cash consideration													$ 35,900,000
Agro Merchants Group
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Shares issued for acquisition (in shares) | shares	14,166,667															46,100,000
Number of facilities acquired | facility	46
Consideration	$ 1,590,000,000
Cash received	47,500,000
Deferred consideration	49,700,000
Shares issued for acquisition	512,100,000
Aggregate cash consideration	1,080,000,000.00
Financing lease and sale-leaseback obligations	119,900,000
Consideration, including financing and sale-leaseback obligations	$ 1,700,000,000
Hall's Warehouse Corporation
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Cash received				$ 7,900,000
Aggregate cash consideration				$ 489,200,000
AM-C Warehouses
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Aggregate cash consideration						$ 82,700,000
Cloverleaf
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Shares issued for acquisition (in shares) | shares																	42,100,000
Aggregate cash consideration												$ 1,240,000,000
Lanier Cold Storage
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Cash received												600,000
Aggregate cash consideration												$ 82,500,000
Nova Cold Logistics
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Cash received									$ 1,000,000.0	$ 1,300
Aggregate cash consideration									260,600,000	$ 338,700
Newport Cold
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Cash received									1,000,000.0
Aggregate cash consideration									$ 57,700,000
At the Market Equity Program
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Authorized equity program																					$ 500,000,000.0
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares															0
2020 At the Market Offering
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Authorized equity program															$ 500,000,000.0
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares																7,440,532
Net proceeds from offering																$ 272,600,000
Underwriting fees and other offering costs																$ 3,000,000.0
Number of shares subject to forward sale agreement (in shares) | shares																4,346,101
Gross proceeds for shares subject to forward sale agreement																$ 162,200,000
Availability under equity program																$ 227,400,000
2020 At the Market Offering, Forward Sale Agreement
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares																5,011,428
Net proceeds from offering																$ 183,000,000.0
Outstanding shares subject to forward sale agreement (in shares) | shares																2,428,604
Outstanding shares subject to forward sale agreement																$ 89,600,000
Public Offering
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares		31,900,000
Number of shares subject to forward sale agreement (in shares) | shares					31,900,000
Outstanding shares subject to forward sale agreement (in shares) | shares																4,785,000
Offering price (in USD per share) | $ / shares					$ 36.67
Underwriters' Option
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares subject to forward sale agreement (in shares) | shares			4,785,000
North America
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of warehouses | warehouse																194
Europe
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of warehouses | warehouse																26
Asia-Pacific
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of warehouses | warehouse																15
South America
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of warehouses | warehouse																3
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | General Partner
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Ownership of partnership																99.00%
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Limited Partner
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Ownership of partnership																1.00%
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Other limited partners
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Ownership of partnership																0.10%