Shipping cold chain products is big business for ocean carriers. According to Seabury, about 540,000 teus of reefer cargo were transported by ocean carriers in 2013.

Technology helps keep products fresh while in transit. But issues continue to present tough challenges to ships hauling perishables.

“The industry, generally, has been facing port congestion challenges and truck driver shortages in various countries,” says Stephen Ng, director of trades for OOCL. “OOCL has been working very closely with terminal operators and vendors to work around these issues.”

Rainer Horn, a spokesperson for Hapag-Lloyd, says that this carrier’s biggest challenges continues to be the backlog at US West Coast seaports – the result of the lengthy slowdown caused by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union dispute, and the Russian import restrictions combined with the weak Russian economy.

“These are impacting reefer food import volumes,” Horn says.

Fiona Jackson, a spokesperson for Mediterranean Shipping Co, says that the most common problem that customers face in Asia is the delay in picking up units from the port, mainly due the lack of truckers and the packing capacity – especially during the peak season.

“This is why almost all customers request additional free days at the point of discharge,” she says.

“Constraints for shipments from Chile and Peru is the cold treatment restriction that the cargo has to perform during the trip,” she adds. “This procedure demands a special coordination at point of loading that decreases the total volume of shipments we can handle at the Asian ports.”

Ocean carriers have invested a lot in the perishables trade. OOCL, for example, offers customized reefer solutions to customers that include a technology called Advanced Fresh Air Management Plus (AFAM+), which regulates air combination by automatically adjusting the scale of fresh air exchange; ultra-low temperature technology it calls Ultra-Cool Magnum Reefer that can maintain temperatures as low as -35°C; dehumidification through Thermo King Smart Reefers and Daikin Reefers that remove excessive moisture; multi-temperature settings that allow intelligent set points; specialists in cold treatment; cold chain logistics services; and less-than-container (LCL) load services.

“Many of our customers use our reefer containers with AFAM+ to ship their perishable cargo as the technology offers precise control over the rate of fresh air exchange such that the desired oxygen and carbon dioxide levels are maintained,” Ng explains. “Managing the level of such gases is very important to maintaining the quality of the cargo because every perishable cargo has its optimal shipping environment that needs to be kept throughout the entire shipment process.”

MSC uses four different CA systems: Transfresh, Maxtend, Purfresh and Oxyion. Among these technologies Transfresh and Maxtend are mostly used to prolong the perfect condition of the fruit and Purfresh and Oxyon for the control of Botrytis.

“Since 2012, we have shipped about 6,900 units with the CA system from the SAWC (South America West Coast),” Jackson says. “Since MSC does not own the CA system, we lease it.”

Technological advancements on reefer containers have transformed the carriage of perishables, resulting in a large mode shift from air to ocean. Take tomatoes, for example. A decade ago, tomatoes were just as likely to be transported by air as in a reefer container by sea. Today, tomatoes are transported almost entirely in containers via steamship line.

Seabury reports that today about 100,000 teus are transported by ocean carriers instead of air cargo. That mode shift is particularly pronounced for perishables like tomatoes, capsicum, fresh fish, lettuce and pineapples.

“Technology used in controlled-atmosphere (CA) containers, such as Star Cool CA, has the potential to further increase the trend,” says Seabury’s maritime advisor Derek Brand. “CA’s ability to slow down the ripening process opens up ocean transport as a viable alternative to air cargo on some of the longer trade routes.”

For Maersk Container Industry (MCI), the maker of Star Cool CA and the container manufacturing unit of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, this is a positive development.

“As new trades open up, our customers can improve their business,” says Anders Gamborg Holm of MCI sales and marketing.

Maersk Line uses two different types of CA systems: the EverFresh system developed by the reefer unit manufacturer Carrier Transicold, and the Star Cool CA system developed by MCI.

“Both are membrane-based systems and are applicable to somewhat different commodities,” explains Barbara Pratt, Maersk Line, SeaLand and Safmarine Line–Reefer Management, USA Cluster.

Hapag-Lloyd uses Everfresh as well as ExtraFresh. Horn comments that with the control of CO2 and O2, the carrier is able to slow down the ripening process and extend product shelf life.

“The most common products for CA are avocados, mangos, bananas and blueberries,” he says.

For example, blueberries have a special requirement of a relatively high CO2 level during transport.

“To meet this requirement, we utilize Everfresh equipment,” Horn explains. “This reefer technology can inject gas to establish and maintain the required atmosphere.”

By being able to haul more of these fresh perishables, Horn reports that Hapag Lloyd is seeing growing demand, particularly with blueberries and avocados from southern hemisphere markets to Europe, Asia and North America.

Steamship lines will not reveal how many reefer containers they have in their fleet, but what distinguishes their equipment is the proprietary software that each manufacturer supplies the carrier with their reefers. This proprietary software controls the varying components that are part of its reefer unit design.

“This is necessary because each different unit has different parts and operates differently,” says Pratt. “The ultimate goal of each manufacturer is to deliver the required temperatures and conditions that help to prolong the shelf life of the various products that are carried in the units.”

A distinguishing factor steamship lines offer customers is hardware solutions and how the cooling is applied in the container space and to the commodity.

“What Maersk (and other carriers) do is monitor the temperatures on the reefer units – mostly set temperature, supply air temperature and return air temperature – as those are the most important reefer unit performance standards,” Pratt says.

For some sensitive high value pharmaceutical products shipped in reefer container, Hapag Lloyd remotely monitors the temperature development during transport.

“Alarm messages are triggered if temperature excursions go above or below temperature limits that are defined for a specific transport or if extended power off times at port terminal occur,” Hand says.

There is a downside to reefer technology: fuel consumption. Reefers require more fuel draw than containers.

“Reefer containers are typically one of the largest energy draws, and there’s a significant difference in energy consumption between newer units and older, less maintained ones,” says Mike Gaffney of Alaris, a maritime energy management consultancy firm.

To address this issue, manufacturers are utilizing temperature controlled microprocessors that make it possible for steamship lines to concentrate on energy consumption and conservation.

OOCL, for example, works with its business partners in procuring reefer containers that are energy efficient and effective in extending the shelf life of perishable cargo. “Energy saving features would definitely be one of the key factors that we would consider in our procurement for environmentally friendly equipment,” Ng says.

Steamship lines work closely, whenever possible, with reefer manufacturers to share their concerns and energy conservation goals.

“The design of the reefer unit is what determines the energy consumption of that unit at the different set points that the commodities require,” Pratt explains.

In that effort, Maersk Line, in partnership with Carrier Transicold and Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research in the Netherlands, has developed jointly power-saving software for its container refrigeration united called QUEST II (Quality and Energy in Storage and Transport) that is unique to Maersk.

According to a Carrier press release, QUEST II gives Maersk a means to reduce energy required for refrigeration by up to 65% while reducing CO2 emissions related to power generation.

“If there are cargos that are not properly pre-cooled, QUEST II will bring them to the desired temperature faster,” explains Leo Lukasse of Wageningen UR.

One of the biggest challenges in developing QUEST II was determining the acceptable rate of reduction in air circulation. “The controller does not know how a specific shipment was stowed, so there is a bit of trial and error to find the acceptable reduction,” Lukasse says. “But at the end of the day, I think we have succeeded there.”

By implementing QUEST II throughout its refrigerated container operations, Maersk Line estimates it saves 350,000 metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions a year. More important, the savings makes it possible for Maersk vessels to take onboard more reefer containers than ever before.

By Karen E Thuermer

Correspondent | Washington