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Hapag-Lloyd has ordered 13,420 new refrigerated containers, bringing its reefer fleet to more than 100,000 containers with delivery set for November 2019 in time for reefer season when the harvest begins in southern hemisphere countries.
Production of 970 20-ft containers and 12,450 40-ft containers is already scheduled to commence in July.
The carrier expects to primarily transport 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 and blood plasma.
Niklas Ohling, senior director of container steering at Hapag-Lloyd, said: “With this new order, we will be expanding our transport capacities for our 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.”
The production of the reefer containers will also be the starting signal for the fleet-wide equipping of reefers with the latest Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring technology.
The resulting customer products will be marketed under the name Hapag-Lloyd LIVE. Its features will gradually be made available to customers as the installation of the equipment proceeds will offer real-time GPS positioning, information on the temperature inside the container, and systems for notifications and alarm management.