Big chill

Rapid population growth has been driving up demand for imported goods consistently for a decade throughout the Middle East. The nature of the regional climate has dictated that this population growth has been matched by a huge increase in demand for cold chain logistics supplying the burgeoning economic centres. At a time when the demand for foodstuffs is growing at an unprecedented rate across the region, greater demands are being placed on freight forwarders to prove the integrity of the cold chain has been maintained.

Retailers want to ensure the longest shelf life of the goods they are paying for and consumers are becoming more demanding in their quest for healthier eating.

As the market requires more of the sea freight sector in terms of guaranteed performance, an examination shows that the cold chain service sector in the region is booming, and leading refrigeration unit manufacturers are taking significant steps to make the industry more environmentally sound.

It is estimated that around 60% of the global fleet of reefer containers are powered by the ThinLINE brand of Carrier Transicold units. Including the rest of Carrier's range of refrigerator units, over 800,000 are thought to be circulating the globe today.

"The Middle East is one of the fastest growing import regions in the world so naturally we've made a strong focus in that area," Scot Pallotta, director of marketing for the Container Products Group of Carrier. As a demonstration of the strength of the reefer market, the Carrier service centre network has expanded rapidly in the last two years.

The region has produced its own best performers in this regard. National Containers Company, located at the Shuaiba port facility in Kuwait was recognised with the region's top performer award, and Ardep Reefer Container Technical Services in Turkey received a special recognition award for business planning. Both firms have only been part of the Carrier service centre network for a few years, and both have seen phenomenal growth in that period.

"Just looking at the Gulf region, Carrier has expanded from just two operations to facilities covering Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Muscat, Jeddah and Kuwait - and more are planned," enthuses Pallotta.

As an illustration of intent, Carrier assert that the growth in the Middle East - Africa region has bloomed from 22 service centres at the start of 2002 to 40 today. This represents nearly 10% of the global network and is earmarked as one of the fastest growing for the years to come.

"By ensuring the Middle East is well served by a comprehensive service network Carrier is positioning itself to remain at the forefront of a booming industry in a flourishing market," he adds.

Healthy growth throughout the Middle East has been maintained not least because the group has continually strived to improve the specialised refrigeration units for the sea freight market. As consumer and retailer expectations have risen the technology involved in the reefer sector has had to develop to meet those requirements.

When a container is loaded properly, such that there is sufficient airflow throughout the produce and the container, then temperatures can now be maintained within very tight parameters. "The technology now has come a long way," explains Pallotta. "The unit is designed to control temperature to plus or minus a quarter of a degree centigrade."

The industry's leading reefer units are designed to regulate environments anywhere between -30°C to +30°C. "Frozen goods are generally transported around -19°C, and specialist deep frozen produce is regulated to -24°C, so the standard units we sell would be suitable for around 98% of the cold chain cargo globally."

However, as most shippers are aware, guaranteeing the temperature throughout the journey is dependant on loading factors. For the environment to be maintained at a certain level the goods need to be loaded at the desired temperature. However, around the world it is increasingly common for goods to be loaded ‘hot' and cooled during the journey.

READERS' COMMENTS

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM