By Tom Krajewski, Sealand, a Maersk Company, special to the AJOT
There’s no doubt that all kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables are piled high on supermarket shelves throughout the year to meet the increase in consumer demand. Much of this fresh produce is imported to the U.S. from Central and South American countries. In fact, fresh produce imports are forecast to increase approximately 40% between 2016 – 2027, as outlined by a USDA Ag Projections Report, and the dollar value of these imports is predicted to increase from 20 to 32 billion dollars.
Americas, Reefer Growth Markets
At Sealand – A Maersk Company, an intra-Americas ocean carrier and specialist in refrigerated transport, we are seeing new produce trade patterns emerging in the Americas. Commodities like avocados are available year-round in the U.S. Much of the supply comes from Mexico and California, the largest producers, but we are now seeing more avocados coming out of Peru every year with Chile also supplying the United States’ demand. Colombia received USDA approval in 2018 and shipments are becoming more regular. Importers are constantly looking for new sources of fresh fruit and vegetables for these year-round programs that tie-in with consumer eating habits, such as the uptick in mango demand.
Peru is a country where imports are growing exponentially. For example, they’re one of the largest suppliers of organic bananas into the U.S. and their growing season for blueberries is now almost 6-months long for product that can be sent to the U.S. Another commodity segment that has been growing the last 3-4 years is citrus due to crop issues impacted by diseases and weather in the United States. Peru and Chile are sending more and more citrus every year, and much of it is easy-peel oranges, such as clementines, which are popular with customers.
Fresh Reliability
After 2018, a year fraught with market and infrastructure challenges in the Americas, including country-wide strikes, severe weather, and labor issues, nothing is more critical to a perishable producer than cold chain reliability. Also, when shipping perishables, a fast transit time is also essential since the goal for producers is to maximize market value and product shelf life.
When issues hit, protecting a customer’s refrigerated cargo is of the number one goal. Various contingencies and options are explored to resolve problems, such as using a different port to expedite the shipment, or redeploying a feeder vessel to cover for a delayed vessel. Every issue is different, so there’s no single answer when disruption occurs. In addition to working around disruptive issues it’s also critical to keep customers abreast of what’s happening.
Ports in the Balance
More and more North American ports have a growing interest in building infrastructure to handle reefer imports. This is because the majority of U.S. reefer exports are frozen proteins, such as chicken, that are oftentimes not moving from the same ports that are handling inbound reefer shipments. This causes a huge equipment imbalance and added logistics costs. Ports that handle export cargo look to attract more imports by adding relevant infrastructure improvements such as cold storage facilities and expert resources to support this new import cold chain customer segment. Local ports are proactively working to fill-in with specific perishables to add to their port mix.
We focus on truck miles that impact a perishable exporters’ supply chain when we look at their end-to-end logistics costs. A more balanced equipment scenario can help to reduce truck miles and in turn improve logistics efficiencies and the associated transit-time. As shippers’ cold chains shift to take advantage of these emerging reefer-friendly ports, we work closely with the ports to set our schedules to meet the shippers’ needs.
ReeferTech
Today’s technology is providing a new level of refrigerated transport visibility which improves the outturn of perishable shipments. RCM (Remote Container Management) enables real-time, end-to-end monitoring of the conditions – temperature and humidity, CO2 levels and the power status - inside a container. Internal sensors gather strategic reefer product data which can be used strategically by a shipper to improve a customers’ experience and ultimately business results for both the perishable producer and customer.
We are currently working with a RCM customer who is reviewing the temperature data to help them evaluate the product quality of the cargo in each container. As containers are unloaded, they’re able to determine if a container has had an issue and if the condition of the product inside needs further review.
The idea is to use the RCM data for quality assessment and improvement, as well as isolate problems. RCM provides the ability to identify a problem faster and address it. Over time, it will allow us to improve the quality of Sealand reefer services and achieve product improvements. This is a good example of using data strategically to improve cold chain performance.
