Cooling systems inside shipping containers are vital for keeping produce fresh during their journey across the world but often the cold air isn’t distributed evenly, which can lead to the creation of hot spots inside the containers. Ronald Hagenstein, Otflow® CEO, explains: “These hot spots increase the respiration rate and ethylene production of the fruit, which will reduce the quality of the product and causes mixed repining’s. Otflow® is an 11-meter long floor cover that helps create optimal airflow inside containers, working to keep the temperatures steady throughout the space and keeping the fruit at high-quality levels.”
Keeping fruit quality constant in times of uncertainty
Specifically in times when there is much volatility and uncertainty in the global market – whether it’s demand, supply, or logistics – it’s especially important to invest in ensuring that product will arrive with good quality and shelf-life. A stone fruit exporter from South Africa experienced some shipment delays due to the pandemic, and because of Otflow he was able to successfully deliver his product despite the delays. He shares: “We did numerous shipments to different destinations using Otflow; all very successful! One of these stands out, a shipment of stone fruit to India. As a result of the covid-19 problems, the shipment was delayed. After 46 days and 3 trans-shipments, the cargo arrived in India and still received a green status on the quality report.”
Expansion in Latin America
The company has recently been working on expanding their presence in Latin America. There are many powerhouse producers among the Latin American countries, and their exports reach to all corners of the globe. With products traveling all over the world, from Latin America to China, Canada, Europe, or even the Middle East, the assurance that Otflow brings for keeping products well-cooled could be very valuable. Hagenstein says: “Our distributor, Broom Logistics, currently represents OTFLOW in South Africa and now, they’ll also be our partner in Chile, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia under their sales division company called PLS (Perishable Logistic Services).”
So far, Otflow has been met with great enthusiasm by Latin American companies. One Peruvian mango exporter, who used Otflow to ship their mangoes to the Netherlands, said: “Otflow helped to standardize the temperature and relative humidity throughout the container, and these conditions were more stable during our transit than they were without Otflow.” A Chilean grape exporter who ships their grapes to the United Kingdom, agreed, saying: “Sometimes we had a 4 to 6°C different. This happened due to the short circuits of the cold air flow inside the container. Now that we use Otflow, our temperatures are a lot more stable.”
Increasing supply-chain efficiency
Not only does Otflow work to keep the product well-cooled, it also helps increase efficiency in the supply chain. Ignacio Santibanez is the General Manager at QIMA, located in Chile, shares: “We realized that the time spent installing Otflow compared to the old-fashioned regular cartons stapled to the bottom of the pallets was significantly lower and the entire process of putting the system together into the container is very practical and easy to do, leaving more time to our inspectors to focus on other important parts of the consolidation process.”
Not only does the easy-installation process of Otflow make logistics more efficient, the long-lasting material also helps reduce waste. Santibanez says: “We also noticed at the opening of the containers at destination, that the Otflow was in very good condition due to the good quality of the product and the water-resistant properties of the materials. This is a big difference with the regular cartons used to conduct the airflow, which in some occasions arrived in poor conditions, mainly due to the condensation inside the container during the trip.”
On Thursday, July 9th and Tuesday, July 14th, Otflow will be holding a webinar, starting at 15:00 CET. After the webinar you can join private sessions for tailor fit questions and answers.
In this webinar you can learn more about Otflow’s prices and discounts, how to install the floor cover and see how other companies have benefit from using this innovation.
For more information:
Ronald Hagenstein
OTFLOW BV
Stephensonweg 18
3225 LW Hellevoetsluis
T: 06 53234536
M: [email protected]
www.otflow.com