SHIPPING giant Hapag-Lloyd has announced a record order for refrigerated containers or “reefers”.
Production of 970 TEU containers and 12,450 FEU containers is scheduled to start this month.
Delivery of the refrigerated containers is set for November 2019, or in time for the southern hemisphere harvest season.
It primarily will be fruits and vegetables – such as blueberries, cherries and avocados from Chile, Peru and elsewhere – but also fish and meat that will be making their way to consumers in these containers.
Hapag-Lloyd reefers are also used worldwide to transport goods that are sensitive to high temperatures, such as pharmaceuticals.
Hapag-Lloyd senior director container steering Niklas Ohling said with this new order, they would be expanding their transport capacities for customers.
“They will now have at their disposal over 100,000 state-of-the-art refrigerated containers with a total capacity of 210,000 TEU, some of which will be equipped with the latest controlled atmosphere technology, which slows the ripening process during transport, thereby extending the shelf life of fruit and vegetables,” Mr Ohling said.
The production of the reefer containers is expected to be a starting signal for the fleet-wide equipping of reefers with the latest internet-of-things monitoring technology.
“In recent years, we have continuously invested in the expansion and modernisation of the reefer fleet,” Mr Ohling said.
“We have consolidated our leading position in this market segment and can offer our customers outstanding quality in the transport of temperature-sensitive goods on all trades routes.”
