DCN September Edition 2019

REEFER TRADES
Heidi Wittle,
technical officer
protected cropping team, QLD
Department of Agriculture
SOWING SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE
OF REFRIGERATED EXPORTS
A refrigerated sea container trial has been done at Port of
Townsville, building capacity for horticultural exports direct
from north Queensland.
The three-week trial, with specialty melons, will provide
primary information on optimal harvest time and shelf life
validation for sea transportation of Burdekin-grown fruit to Asia.
Port of Townsville’s trade development manager Maria
James says, “At present growers in north Queensland send
their produce south for export, which adds to their supply
chain costs and delivery time.
“The success of this trial could assist the region’s growers
by reducing transportation costs and ensuring their
customers are getting faster fresher produce, boosting
the capacity and sustainability of north Queensland’s
horticultural sector.”
The project is funded through the Queensland
Government Growing Queensland’s Food Exports pilot
program and supported by global shipping line ANL that
provided its reefer expertise and the use of a refrigerated
sea container for the trial.
Shane Walden, chief commercial officer of ANL says,
“Australia has progressed to be thought of as the food bowl
of Asia and we want to ensure our premium quality produce
is enjoyed by all – it’s channels like these that help promote
our grower’s product.
“Leveraging ANL’s refrigerated containers and valueadded-services
such as Controlled Atmosphere and Cold
Sterilisation in Transit, exporters can protect the quality of
their commodities by managing influencing factors like CO2,
humidity, ventilation and temperature.
“ANL’s broad coverage also provides opportunity for
customers to export to south-east Asia and beyond.
Servicing the major hubs of Singapore and Port Kelang,
customers can tranship their cargo anywhere in the world,
leveraging the CMA CGM Group’s global network.”
The Department of Agriculture will now analyse the
results of the reefer trial, which was just one part of a project
investigating the logistics chain of specialty niche melons to
the Japanese market.
Ms James says she hopes trials like this will help build a
case for the revitalisation of direct exports from Townsville
to Asia.
“Back in the 1990s, Townsville had direct lines coming in here
from Japan… and we have a world-class cold storage facility on
our doorstep with import licenses for China,” she says.
“With the recent upgrade of Berth 4 at the port we are
serious about developing container trade in the north.
“This should be a regional hub, we’re two days closer
to Asia [than Brisbane]… it’s really about getting people to
change their existing supply chain practices.”
Demand for reefers in Australia is influenced largely by seasonal
factors, says Seaco.
“We’re coming up to the Christmas peak with a lot of domestic
bookings, that will pick up in the next six to eight weeks. We see
steady growth,” Mr Fedden says.
From Hapag-Lloyd’s point of view, it has a strong reefer presence
in Australia and New Zealand with weekly direct service from main
ports of both countries to almost all the main ports in Asia.
“The challenge in Oceania, as an primary agricultural producer,
is the weather and drought in terms of what is produced from time
to time,” Mr Bhiwandiwalla says.
“Another challenge is that exports are higher than imports so we
can experience equipment challenges.”
REEFER INNOVATION
The latest research suggests that by the end of last year, around
2.5% of the global container fleet had been fitted with smart
technology – devices that show a container’s location in real time,
as well as status information about the goods inside.
That means around 250,000 units, largely reefer containers
led by Maersk’s remote container management system, and other
carriers have begun to follow suit.
London-based consultant Drewry estimates that by 2023, nearly
2.5 million units – 6.5% of the global container fleet – could be
fitted with the technology.
Key to this growth will be the development of a set of
interoperability standards – one of the chief remits of the
recnetly created Digital Container Shipping Association – that
will allow carriers and others the opportunity to work with
smart containers from different manufacturers and operating
on different IT systems.
We are seeing the Oceania market
growing positively by 4-5% annually and
expect that trend to continue.
Mehernosh Bhiwandiwalla, Hapag-Lloyd
One of Hapag-Lloyd’s biggest initiatives at present is in fitting its
entire reefer fleet with technology for remote control monitoring.
“Hapag-Lloyd LIVE is a significant initiative to fit the whole
reefer fleet with remote monitoring technology. Obviously new
reefers are already fitted with this technology including the
reefers purchased this year. It’s in the final stages of testing,” Mr
Bhiwandiwalla says.
Part of Hapag-Lloyd’s 2023 goal to achieve about 10% of profitable
reefer business globally (IRT Asia trade excluded), is to maintain the
highest quality reefer fleet but also to serve niche markets.
“An example would be our new Caribbean Express service which
offers customers access to main markets in north Europe with
weekly and fast transit times,” Mr Bhiwandiwalla says.
“The company is focused on developing its offering in 20-foot
reefers, solutions to pharmaceutical markets, value add of
Controlled Atmosphere and Cold Treatment containers and in
transportation of dangerous goods in containers.”
Shipping line MSC believes it has a reefer fleet that is one of the
“largest and most advanced” in the world.
Dept. of Agriculture
50 September 2019
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