Integrated reefer NEWS Third quarter 2014 Get inspired By Soren Leth Johannsen, Chief Commercial Officer Star Cool’s ability to keep food fresh over greater distances has seen MCI break into the Top 100 in a worldwide survey of more than 900 innovations. The companies ranked in the Sustainia100 study received the praise of one of the world’s leading climate scientists, Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chair of the UN panel for climate Change, IPCC. “While we don’t have the luxury of time to solve the problems facing us, we do have the luxury of readily available solutions. And with Sustainia100, we now know where to find the most inspiring of them”, Dr. Pachauri commented. Within that context, in partnership with interested container operators, we are about to commence global live testing of the air cleaning system called Bluezone®. This technology removes ethylene and microbes from the air in refrigerated containers. Previous tests have demonstrated that Bluezone® reduces ripening and spoilage. As a result, produce stored using Bluezone® has been shown to maintain firmness and colour for longer while exhibiting less mould growth. The Bluezone® treatment now being applied in Star Cool Integrated reefers will help us to quantify actual enhancements to product quality and shelf life achieved by Bluezone® technology. After a long period of quiet, the reefer market has finally gained momentum. Around 30% of total orders received year-to-date have been placed in the last five weeks alone. What is noticeable is the rush of orders coming directly from container lines, rather than from the leasing sector. Global transport of refrigerated cargo is increasing and prospects are good that this trend will continue for some time. Independent maritime researcher Drewry recently forecast that reefer container volumes will rise by 20.5 million metric tons towards 2018. Of this increase, 16.5 million will come from organic growth and 4 million at the expense of the shrinking specialised reefer industry. Overall, the seaborne perishable reefer trade is expected to increase by 17% between 2013 and 2018, providing an additional 16.5 million metric tons of cargo. According to Drewry, the specialised reefer fleet carried around 28% of perishable volumes in 2013. At MCI, we believe that there is a natural balance between reefer containers and specialised reefer vessels, as each meets different customer requirements. In the years ahead, it looks likely that the conversion from bulk to container shipping will boost container production, over and above the general growth of the perishable transport market and fleet replacement. Although the total market for 2014 remains uncertain, everything indicates that it will be larger than 2013 and it is expected to grow further in 2015. Although our current global reefer production is relatively uneven, the signs are encouraging. At MCI Qingdao, we are working flat out. At MCI San Antonio, on the other hand, we have only just commenced internal pilot production. I hope that you find our newsletter interesting and relevant.
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