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Flowers blossom on the high seas 16 the preferred development


Not a lot of cut flowers currently move by ship – air has always been


than long-haul


mode of transport – but that could soon start to change. Edwin Wenick, manager of supply chain


at Dutch


auctioneers, FloraHolland, has been involved in a pilot project to bring blooms from distant regions like South America to Europe. Air offers speed, but controlled-


temperature container shipping can, properly managed, offer much better temperature control, he told the Cool Logistics conference on 24 September. “If you can manage the process direct from the farm, you can have a steady line on your temperature graph – and containers are much better than doing that


airfreight.” With airfreight,


rises in temperature are inevitable as flowers wait on hot tarmac to be loaded onto planes. The only way to avoid this is to use temperature controlled airfreight containers but this would be prohibitively expensive for relatively low-value goods like flowers, though such units are being increasingly used for pharmaceuticals. The airlines’ overheating


problem may also be aggravated by the switch away from full freighter to bellyhold capacity, considers Robert Verbaenen, business development manager at specialist forwarder, Adelantex. “You can’t cool a bellyhold to 2 degrees Centigrade if you’ve got a pet dog on board,” he points out.


So far, flowers have been shipped


by sea using standard temperature- controlled containers – there has been no need to use expensive controlled atmosphere technology. At the moment, the main trade


in flowers by sea is from Colombia to Europe, much of it to the UK; the major retailers have taken a strong interest. A certain amount has also moved from Ecuador to the US, but the major trade from Colombia still goes by air as it is more economic. East Africa to Europe remains a challenge for shipping, due to the lack of speedy, reliable shipping services and the cost of transhipment. “We don’t see everything going


by sea,” says Wenick. “Perhaps about a third will remain in the


air.” But air will be used mainly to cater for surges in demand, with the base load demand for retailers and the auction houses using containers. A much more limited number


of temperature-controlled products will fly in future, confirmed Frank van Gelder, a business consultant for forwarder Adelantex. With airfreight already accounting for just 1.7% of total global temperature-controlled freight by volume, pharma has also made a large-scale shiſt to sea, apart from sensitive products like antibiotics. Increased fuel costs and the withdrawal of full freighter capacity has given the market every incentive to look for alternatives.


Red tape must not be barrier to free trade


Food safety is important, but it mustn’t be allowed to halt the food supply chain altogether, says Veerie Van Der Sypt, secretary general of Fresh Trade Belgium. The importers, exporters and wholesalers that it represents are getting increasingly exercised by EU Regulation 669, which aims to intensify controls on certain


foods imported from overseas, such as beans from Kenya, basil from Israel and mint from Morocco, when it comes into force in 2016. Taking the example of basil,


“it’s a sensitive product with a short shelf life, so official checks can be a problem,” she explains. The European Commission has suggested


strengthening checks at origin rather than on arrival in the EU, a good idea, says Sypt, provided it is feasible. For Moroccan mint,


Regulation 669 is demanding that 2% of consignments are checked by labs before they can be sold, but checks take time and, moreover, it varies from EU country to country. It


is possible that some countries may try to short-circuit the process, or offer lower costs, to gain a commercial advantage over a neighbouring country. Moreover, Regulation 669


fails to distinguish between good and bad suppliers in the country of origin. “A more risk- based approach would be an advantage,” states Sypt.


Exporting becomes cool in Ireland


The start of the Maersk line service bringing in bananas in temperature controlled boxes from central America and the Caribbean direct into the port of Cork has created new opportunities for local exporters, says Irish Exporter’s Association director, Howard Knott. “Suddenly, there’s a very useful stock of reefer boxes available for Irish exporters to use.” These days, as well as traditional food exports like butter and milk, Ireland exports a lot of pharmaceuticals, produced by companies that have been


tempted to set up in Ireland by its high standard of education, ready labour availability and friendly tax regime.


Of the 20 top exporting


companies, 17 are foreign multinationals, says Mr Knott and around 1,000 overseas firms now have Irish locations. Many of these are US-based but European firms also figure. There are transport issues to


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surmount, though. Airfreight capacity out of Ireland is now very limited; only integrators like DHL operate frequent freighters


and while bellyhold space is available on flag carrier Aer Lingus, Ryanair’s threats to buy the carrier (and presumably axe the freight service if it were to make its new purchase conform to its low cost model) is disquieting exporters. There are also regular lo lo and


ro ro links, to the continent and the UK.


Many carriers actually prefer to


send delicate pharma shipments by road from Ireland as it is much easier to guarantee temperature integrity. The IEA has been involved in


setting up a life sciences sub-group to help companies comply with increasingly complex transport regulations and there is a Good Distribution Practice passport for companies that can demonstrate compliance. Several of the big integrators and forwarders have signed up to the scheme. “A lot of the pharma products


these days are biological products so correct temperature and humidity is vital. And unlike a banana, it’s not always obvious if something has gone wrong,” Knott points out.


Issue 7 2013 Freight Business Journal


///COOL LOGISTICS Cold chain in the


developing world – more problems than answers


China isn’t the only part of the world where the cold chain is either in its infancy, or even non-existent. India’s problems in developing a viable infrastructure were well documented at the 2012 Cool Logistics conference, for instance, and at this year’s conference, John Kriel, supply chain commercial chief at Oman’s Port of Salalah pointed to similar problems in much of the Middle East. “Handling equipment oſten


doesn’t match expectations; government inspectors are rare; and frozen chickens can be kept waiting on the runway in 50 degree heat,” he told the gathering. There are problems with


educating manpower; oſten the problems stem from a belief that the cheapest is necessarily the best. Back in India and Pakistan, Safmarine’s head of reefer business, Marc Rooms pointed out that problems oſten began right at the start of the chain, with poor post- harvest treatment. The port of Antwerp is working


to develop cold chain systems in India through its international subsidiary. The problems there are in some ways more intractable than in China, where at least there is a central government agency controlling things whereas the picture in India is much more fragmented.


Fish can still fly


Flowers, fruit and pharmaceuticals may have deserted the airlines for the high seas, but fish will most likely continue to fly. While there have been some fanciful notions of shipping live lobster and salmon in what amount to containerised fishtanks, no one has yet found a solution to the weight problem – and sea is simply too slow to move fish that are no longer in the water. Doug McRae, president of US-


based Worldwide Perishables says that Canadian, or Boston lobster is the shellfish of choice among discerning restaurateurs all over the world and now accounts for around half what is exported around the world. It can be fished all year round and it can be stored in shore holding tanks for up to four months – and it


tastes pretty good too. Its Canadian Cold Seafoood


arm was set up in 1995 to invest in holding facilities, tanks and so on and a forwarder – Worldwide – was established to manage relationships with the airlines. It has also set up a warehousing and distribution company in Belgium. Recognising that significant


temperature breaches were occurring when it delivered lobsters to carriers, it also opened its Gateway facility at Halifax airport in north-east Canada – 7,000sq ft of refrigerated space for building up pallets, right next to the airport apron, which reduces handling time to minutes. As a result, says McRae, mortality


rates for live lobsters, which had been 20%, are now virtually zero.


Back by popular demand


Following the success of this year’s Cool Logistics Global conference, next year’s event will also be held in Rotterdam and at the same venue – the SS Rotterdam hotel and exhibtion ship. Organiser Cool Logistics Resources has announced that the 2014 edition will take place on 30 September to 2 October 2014.


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