The Escola commits to work together with YoungShip organisations of Europe

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On the 7th of June 2019, the director of the Escola Europea Eduard Rodés met with co-founders of the YoungShip organisations of Spain, Italy, Portugal and France to discuss fruitful and economic collaboration between the institution and the young professionals associations. The youth associations, represented by Javier Mendés (Spain), Raquel Nunes (Portugal, and Ansam Okbanir respectively, visited the Escola’s headquarters to attend the joint conference of YoungShip France & Spain titled “The Cruise Industry in the Mediterranean: Challenges and Opportunities”.

The signature of the agreement constitutes the kick-off of a new partnership that will help to bring together the three youth associations in training projects in order to prepare, train and educate young people on the policy of promoting intermodality, as supported by the EU. YoungShip is an international non-profit association that provides a voice for all young people in the maritime sector. YoungShip International has a clear role to play in engaging, inspiring and working with the industry to promote bright young minds in the maritime industry for the development of future progress.

More specifically, during the meeting, the parties agreed to work together to offer courses and training, as developed by the Escola, at a discounted price to members of the YoungShip family in Portugal, France, Italy and Spain. The Escola would work together to prepare, train and educate young people to the policy of promoting intermodality promoted by the EU.

Under the agreement the Escola would also hold a training and networking course every 2 years between the members of the YoungShip’s members at an international level. The courses, though also focused on the intermodal transport of goods, would count with the customisation of contents by YoungShip’s organisers, and would provide ample opportunities for networking and professional collaborations. On their part, the YoungShip organisations agreed to promote and support the training offers of the courses that the Escola offers among their member bases, both by increasing the institution’s visibility on their respective websites and through the design and development of specialised courses in the field of intermodal logistics chains, facilitating the participation of their technical staff in the preparation of the contents and the holding of workshops.

The agreement will be valid for a period of 36 months and, depending on the rate of success, will have the possibility to be extended on an annual basis thereafter.

For more information about the YoungShip’s organisations, you can visit the website: http://www.youngship.com/departments/ and search for the participating countries.

The ARETÉ AURUM awarded posthumously to Doctor Aldo Grimaldi

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On the 25th of May the ARETÉ AURUM award ceremony was held, awarded posthumously to Doctor Aldo Grimaldi. The ceremony took place at the headquarters of the Port Authority of Barcelona. The award was presented by Mercè Conesa, the President of both the Escola Europea and the Port of Barcelona, and was collected by Isabella Grimaldi, the daughter of Doctor Grimaldi. Participating in the ceremony were Eduard Rodés, director of the Escola, Valerio Esposito, GNV representative in Spain, and other members of the Grimaldi family.

The Executive Committee of the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport, held in Barcelona on the 4th of April, unanimously took the decision to grant the ARETÉ AURUM award posthumously to Aldo Grimaldi in appreciation for his decisive contribution to the successful development of short sea shipping and the motorways of the sea in the Trans-European Transport Network and, as a founding member on behalf of Grandi Navi Veloci, to the success of the Escola.

The Escola grants the ARETÉ AURUM to people whose attitude and actions have decisive contributions to the creation and growth of our institution. Joaquín Coello (2016), José Anselmo Laranjeira (2016) and Sixte Cambra (2018) have received this distinction in the past.

 

#DidYouKnow – Short guide on packaging and security

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In this article for #DidYouKnow we think about the packaging and security of consolidated shipments (groupage). The question we aim to answer is how the should the boxes be transported? Several factors are the key to ensure the safe arrival of the goods at their destinations. These include:

– Packing: Packing must be made and manufactured “to measure” to avoid potential movements of the goods inside the wooden boxes.

– Handling: It is very important to pay special attention to the markings on the boxes, which contain information for correct handling.

– Storage: The conditions and duration of storage should be adequate to avoid any potential damage to the box, which could result in the damage of some (if not all) of the goods stored within.

– Transport: The packaging must be conditioned for the type of transport used.

Alongside these factors, the actual transport of our goods needs to be considered when planning the packaging of our goods. This can be sub-divided into the different transport modes:

  • Maritime:If the packaging is going to travel by sea, its destination, the type of container in which it will travel and the main components of the merchandise need to be taken into consideration prior to the packaging.We must bear in mind that the merchandise will be subjected to high levels of humidity, condensation and salinity. Therefore, for this type of transport, and in particular when dealing with goods that comprise electrical components, it is wise to use VCI protections, which release a series of micro particles that adhere to the goods and help reduce the risk of oxidation. Though mitigating the risks, these protections can’t fully guarantee the avoidance of moisture.Another common protection used by industry professionals is the use of barrier protections. These include the placing of a cover of an aluminum complex applied to a vacuum next to desiccant salts. This creates a microclimate within the cover, which allows the cargo to withstand pressure changes and avoids oxidation or corrosion of the goods within.
  • Air:The packaging that travels by air is subject to sudden changes in temperatures, condensation and humidity. As such, the protections used within packaging mimic those used in maritime transport (see above).
  • RoadGenerally, ground transportation does not call for specific protection unless the goods themselves, the warehouses visiting on the route, or the places visited during the transport journey call for it. Therefore, the packaging of road transport goods needs to be considered on an individual basis.

In all of the three cases listed above, lashing of the packaging needs to be considered. Lashing the merchandise ensures that it is completely immobilised. The goal is to prevent possible damages to the goods caused by blows, rubbing, displacements or overturns during transport.

Lashing of goods

Lashing is a very important in ensuring that goods arrive in perfect conditions at their destinations. What is lashing? It refers to the immobilising and attaching of the merchandise to the container, ship or truck.

There are no restrictions – all types of cargo can be lashed, whether they will be transported by air, sea or land.

It is called for whenever there is some free space between the cargo and the container. Lashing is done by means of slings and tensioners or airbags; this further depends on the characteristics and needs of the merchandise.

Occasionally, wood reinforcements can be used to stabilise the load and make the lashing safer. For example, vehicle transport can require standard lashing that consists of a sling system or mixed lashing (which uses standard lashing with an added wooden ring around the wheels for greater protection).

Both packing and lashing are key for the correct transport of consolidated loads. If they are not done correctly, they can cause accidents and result in (potentially very pricy) damages in the transport of goods. The packaged goods need to travel in the best possible conditions for content protection and load security, ensuring that the products arrive in pristine states at their destinations.

If you want to know more about packaging in consolidated transport, check out our upcoming course on Groupage and Consolidation Centres scheduled for the 17-19 of June 2019.

Written by:

  • Beatriz Jiménez, Servicios Recipe TM2, S.A.
Tempearture Controlled Supply Chains

The first edition of the Temperature Controlled Supply Chains Technical course ends with great success

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In the second quarter of 2019 the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport began to implement the scheduled technical courses of the year. The courses, aimed at professionals active in the logistics- port sector, began with the first edition of the “Temperature Controlled Supply Chains” course, which took place between the 6th and the 9th of May.

The course covered concepts associated with cold supply chains. Encompassing details of the common practices in planning and execution of said supply chains, the course made it possible for the participants to discover each of the steps required in these transport operations. A special focus was given to intermodal processes as well. Course contents included the distribution of temperature-controlled products (warehousing, manoeuvring and transport) through distribution networks (suppliers, service providers and clients) in accordance with their specified temperature conditions. Visits to Mercabarna (the wholesale market of Barcelona), a container terminal, an importer/distributor storage facility, a container depot, and the Border Inspection Point accompanied the theory.

In this first edition, the Port of Barcelona, Mercabarna, Barcelona Container Depot Service, Caudete Logística, Grimaldi Lines, Maritime Terminal of Zaragoza, Maersk, Frimercat, Cultivar and Martico collaborated with the Escola in the development of contents and visits. The participants comprised a dozen professionals from the transport and logistics sectors, coming from companies such as: JCV Shipping & Solutions, Noatum Maritime, COSCO Shipping, Total Freight, Saice, Agility, Arola, Dallant and Solport.

Álvaro Sánchez, a Mediterraean Reefer Specialist and a presenter in the course, stated the following about the experience: “It is a young course that can meet the knowledge needs and concerns of all participants in the cold chain and create an awareness of good practices in the handling of cargo transported under controlled temperature conditions. The combination of theory and technical visits (terminal, Depot, warehouses …) makes it even more interesting. “

In the coming months the Escola Europea will carry out the remaining technical courses of the year including: training in rail-port intermodality SURCO Operations I, from the 10th to 12th of June; training in Groupage and Consolidation Centres, between the 17th and 19th of June; and the Summer School in Port Operations, with a focus on Vessels and Cargo, from the 1st to the 5th and 8th to 12th respectively.

#DidYouKnow – What training do we need to work with NVOCC’s?

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Consumption models are evolving towards systems of more customised attention to the final consumer. This has consequently fuelled a change in manufacturing and distribution models. More and more products of very different sizes are exported with very short delivery times and sent directly into the hands of the final customer. It is the evolution from a large shipping model to a new one maintaining a constant flow of medium or small shipments. Simultaneously, the modes of transportation have steered towards gigantism. Ships, trains, trucks and airplanes are becoming larger and larger in search of greater efficiency and lower environmental impact. Loading units, however, have remained the same.

Groupage offers a very good solution for such shipments that result from purchases made through e-commerce, bringing us closer to what we call the Physical Internet. It offers a new environment with the capacity to manage relatively small load units that rely on intermodal transport, which in turn rely on large modes of transport: large ships, trains and mega-trucks.

This technique that optimizes transportation not only generates multiple benefits for the loaders, but also gives great advantages in terms of the concern for the environment.

Customer demands are constantly changing. It is also necessary to keep up with any legislative changes, new transport options and technological inventions. New skills must be developed in the fields of information technology, environmental transport and collaboration. The consolidator works door-to-door. As such he or she needs to be able to manage operations between different countries, with different operators and through the use of various sophisticated technological tools.

The flexibility of an NVOCC makes it attractive to small to medium-sized enterprises, but big companies that manage large volumes of freight across their supply chains also need flexible options.

The consolidation centres are the ones who can best face the challenges posed by this evolution. There is a long way to go ahead of us, and it begins with the training of the operators and companies that will choose groupage as an alternative to their transport systems.

Moreover, more and more companies are looking for opportunities to establish cooperation agreements for the supply and distribution of goods. Many companies share vehicles to improve occupancy, reduce fuel consumption, reduce emissions, improve vehicle utilisation and reduce costs. Operators include these initiatives as part of their environmental and business strategies. Groupage has proven to have clear environmental advantages, when compared with each operator using their own vehicles to deliver small, often uneconomical consignments. Today alliances in transport are becoming more and more frequent.

Most companies see groupage as a possible risk to their cargo. Loss, theft, lack of information or control of the cargo are the main concerns when thinking about combining your shipment with that of other companies. It is true that not all cargoes are susceptible to groupage, but that is why there are specialists that analyse and organise these services to maintain control of all transport and consolidation, therewith minimizing the risks that may occur.

It is thus essential to detect what training and information is needed for operators to be able to take advantage of groupage. Some of the subjects in which lack of training has been detected among freight forwarders, direct customers of NVOCCs, and shippers, range from the identification of the main operators and the services offered from a consolidation centre, the differences between types of groupage by mode of transport and the situational analyses to evaluate the use of groupage, to more complex scenarios such as customs procedures, packaging and labelling of goods, risks and groupage coverages or special treatments of specialised goods.

All of these topics are dealt with in depth in the specialised course on Groupage and Consolidation Centres offered for the third consecutive year by the Escola Europea. This year’s edition will take place from 17 to 19 June 2019 in Barcelona. The main objective is for people to be able to know all the casuistry, processes, documentation and legislation that applies to door-to-door groupage operations. This should familiarise the students in the use of groupage services and therefore a encourage their development. In the two previous editions, companies of different types have participated, including Mercadona, Rhenus Logistics, TransGlory, DB Shenker and Fundación Cares, among others.

The idea of offering a course with these characteristics arose from an analysis of the evolution of supply chains and from the need for professionals and students to have more specialized training, which is structured around a theoretical basis and which also allows for the most practical part of operations to be seen through visits to leading operators in the sector. Companies and entities active in groupage such as the Romeu Group, IFS, Globelink Uniexco, Ibercondor, TM2, ATEIA, PORTIC, the BEST terminal and the Port of Barcelona actively participate in the Escola’s course.

The final aim is to inform companies of the best practices for groupage and explain the operation of the whole system so that they can consider it as an option for transporting their goods and contribute to a more efficient and sustainable transport system.

Written by:

  • Raquel Nunes, Training Programmes & External Relations Manager (Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport)

Barcelona to host the 1st World Edition of Startup Weekend focused on the logistics and maritime world

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Barcelona will host the 1st World Edition of Startup Weekend focused on the logistics and maritime world, with the support of Google for Entrepreneurs and Techstars bringing together entrepreneurs to solve the major challenges of the sector.

This event will be held during the next weekend of May 17, 18 and 19 at the new facilities of OneCowork. This edition will have the collaboration of different companies and institutions of the logistics sector.

Encouraging entrepreneurship, disrupting the logistics sector and solving major challenges are the goals that this edition of Startup Weekend Barcelona aims to achieve with its new Maritime & Blue Logistics edition in May 2019.

It is expected to bring together the 100 entrepreneurs of different profiles. Businesses, developers, designers and technicians of the logistics sector with business ideas that revolutionise the logistics sector as we know it today, networking and sharing experiences.

On Friday, May 17th, participant will present their business ideas and then the most promising ones will be selected. The objective during the weekend is to work in the business model with countless partners and specialist mentors from the sector to learn, inspire and discover new solutions.

About Techstars Startup Weekend

Startup Weekend ™ is a 54-hour event, in which groups made up of different professional profiles such as developers, business, entrepreneurship enthusiasts, designers and, in this edition, specialists in the logistics sector will be challenged to move from an idea to a product  or business. The teams will work throughout the weekend collaborating to achieve a viable minimum product to submit to the verdict of the jury, composed of executives and specialists in the logistics sector.

Startup Weekend was born in 2007 and by 2016 it has grown to have a global presence. In December 2016, Startup Weekend reached a presence in 140 countries, and more than 1100 cities, involving more than 234,000 enterprising participants. Startup Weekend is a program of Techstars Startup Programs, along with Startup Week and Startup Digest.

Founded in July 2007 in Boulder, Colorado by Andrew Hyde, Startup Weekend brought together 70 entrepreneurs to try to start a startup in just 54 hours. The model quickly expanded to other cities around the world. In 2010, Marc Nager and Clint Nelsen took full ownership and registered the non-profit organisation, moving to Seattle. After the acquisition, Startup Weekend would organize 80 events in the United States, Canada, England and Germany. In December 2010, the organisation had 8 full-time employees, more than 15 facilitators and more than 100 local organizers. In 2016, Startup Weekend is in more than 1000 cities around the world. Startup Weekend is an initiative created by Techstars and has the support of Google for Entrepreneurs .

Important startups have come out of this initiative, which today are consolidated companies such as: Zapier , Foodspotting , Hydrate or Haiku Deck . 

Maritime & Blue Logistics

We premiered with an event where we expect 100 participants and a team of mentors that will turn this edition into a unique opportunity to update, undertake, network and have fun. The event will be in English and it is expected to obtain an important attendance of both international and local entrepreneurs. For this edition, we have great sponsors, partners and companies that are betting on this initiative such as the logistics company Grupo Romeu , the company accelerator Founder Institute, Marinel-lo Abogados , design agency Jaimitos , ATEIA , Portic , Kantox and the Port of Barcelona .

For more information you can go to : www.startupweekendbarcelona.com

The Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport is collaborating in this event, and as such it can offer a discount of 25% to our students and visitors to our website. To take advantage of this discount, click HERE . 

Forma't al Port agreement

Facultat de Nàutica signs a collaboration agreement with the Escola Europea under the Forma’t al Port programme

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The director of the Escola Europea, Eduard Rodés, and the dean of the Nautical Faculty of Barcelona (Facultat de Nàutica de Barcelona – FNB), Agustí Martín, signed a collaboration agreement in the framework of the Forma’t al Port programme. First-year students of the university degrees offered by the Faculty have already participated in the Forma’t Introduction course during the month of April.

The programme, organized by the Port of Barcelona, the Diputació de Barcelona, the City Council of Barcelona, the Consotrium of the Zona Franca and the Escola Europea opens the port community to students of degrees in Marine Technologies, Nautical and Maritime Transport and Engineering in Naval Technology. In total, 95 students have already participated in the training this year.

The courses organized in this programme help prepare a logistic and port community capable of facing the strategic challenges of the Catalan region.

In the first semester of 2019, the Escola expects to train a total of 500 students of professional training and university degrees.

Thanks to the excellent results obtained last year, the Forma’t al Port programme continues with the objective of helping to position Barcelona and Catalonia in the first line of logistics and port activities in Europe and the world.

For more information, you can visit the webpage of the programme : www.escolaeuropea.eu/format or write to: info@escolaeuropea.eu

#DidYouKnow – LCL packaging and shipments

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In this article for #DidYouKnow we consider the steps and precautions that need to be taken into account in consolidated shipments and groupage operations.

When sending an ocean freight LCL (Less than a Container Load) shipment the cargo needs to be carefully prepared. LCL shipments require container sharing, and therefore the shippers need to take extra caution to ensure the integrity of the merchandise handled.

Source: Fortune Global

The two most common causes for damages to LCL loads are the collapse of stowed materials caused by the shipper’s improper stowage of cargo inside the container, and insufficient individual packaging and contamination caused by the incompatibility of cargo within the same container.

This prompted us to draft this article to clarify the issue at hand: How should an LCL shipment be properly packaged and prepared? Certain aspects need to be considered when ensuring safe transportation of this type of cargo. Some of these include identifying whether the goods in the shipment are fragile, and how many boxes will eventually comprise the entire consignment. Once these questions are ascertained, the shipper can prepare the packaging and the proceed with the labeling of the goods.

In terms of the boxes and packaging, the general rule of thumb is to pack all the goods in boxes, and avoid the use of suitcases or bags. Ideally, special boxes designed for export should be used. Should the shipment contain delicate merchandise, the empty space inside the boxes should be filled with plastic packaging bubbles for added padding and protection. Finally, each box needs to be individually and securely sealed.

On the outside of the boxes clear labels need to be placed, containing the names of the shipper and the consignees, country of destination, name of the freight forwarder and the booking number. If the merchandise is fragile, the “Fragile” label should appear on the sides of the boxes. There are other types of labels that could be added to containers with delicate cargo. These include the orientation of the box to be handled, storage advice, chemical identifiers, etc. Whether or not the labels are placed on the boxes is up to the shipper and to the nature of the cargo.

The labels should also identify the total number of boxes within each shipment. The label should have a number that indicates each box position with respect to the total number of boxes: “Box 1 of 30”.

Finally, when preparing the boxes merchandise needs to be arranged evenly and uniformly. Shipping prices are calculated based on the cubic volume of the contents. Once cargo volume is calculated and the booking is placed with a freight forwarder, it is time to start thinking about palletising the goods. Unlike an FCL shipment where goods can travel loosely within a container, LCL containers are shared. Everything has to be perfectly and properly palletised. When measuring the volume of your shipment, one needs to always take into consideration the pallets used.

Once all of these steps have been taken, the shipment is ready to be sent on its way to its final destination in a safe and organised fashion.

Written by:

  • Raquel Nunes, Training Programmes & External Relations Manager (Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport)

The Escola Europea reaffirms its commitment to the Motorways of the Sea

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On the 4th of April the Steering Committee of the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport met in the framework of the “Motorways of the Sea in the Western Mediterranean – Climate Action Programme 2020 The Way Forward” conference in Barcelona. The Committee, which comprises representatives from the primary stakeholders fo the Escola, is tasked with establishing the strategic direction of the institution.

The meeting brought together, among others, the president of the Port of Barcelona and of the Escola Europea Mercè Conesa; the commercial director of short sea shipping in Grimaldi Lines and the president of the ALIS group, Guido Grimaldi; the president of the ports of Rome Francesco Maria di Majo; the CEO of Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) Matteo Catani; the president of the Ports of Genoa Paolo Emilio Signorini (via teleconference); and the director of the Escola Europea, Eduard Rodés.

During the meeting the Escola’s achievements of 2018 were highlighted and the goals for 2019 were solidified. The participants confirmed that the Escola is consolidating its role as a reference for training both on local and international levels, not only in short sea shipping but in the intermodal transport sector in general. Some of the institution’s achievements of 2018 were:

  • In 2018, the Escola has organised more tan 35 courses with more than 1300 participants coming from Spain, Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. The increase in the number of participants coming from the other side of the Atlantic and from throughout the Mediterranean was noted. This international flow helps spread the European model of short sea shipping to the African and American continents, contributing to the improvement of sustainable transport globally.
  • In the framework fo the TransLogMED Project, the Escola has organised: two conferences in Sfax and Algiers; three training courses, one of which was aimed at senior Algerian officials and with the collaboration of the World Bank, and another one aimed at senior officials from the Tunisian government; and 4 collaboration agreements were signed with relevant bodies in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Moreover, the Escola has participated in various industry fairs in the participating countries.
  • The Escola has been the project office of various actions financed by European funds, including CarEsmatic, Core LNGas Hive, and is part of the consortium that is running the RePort project financied byt eh RIS3CAT programme.

During the event the Committee approved actions for 2019, including:

  • The new technical courses “Temperature Controlled Supply Chains” and “Port Operations: Vessels & Goods”, which will have renewed and more complete programmes when compared to the previous editions
  • The Formati al Porto programme, based on the very successful Forma’t al Port model which has in the past few years achieved tremendous results in Barcelona, will be developed from the newely opened offices of the Escola in the headquarters of the Port Authority of the Ports of Rome ( Autoridad del Sistema Portuario del Mar Tirreno Centro Septentrional)

2019 shows all signs of being a very intensive one for the Escola Europea, with courses for professionals programmed for the autumn and courses for university and professional training students scheduled throughout the year. In the past decade, the organisation has increased its influence in Europe and throughout the Mediterranean through the development of new and innovative courses for students and professionals, the signing of new agreements with influential universities and training centres, and the active participation in European projects.

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#DidYouKnow – A short story of the refrigerated container

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This week we wanted to discuss the evolution of the refrigerated container. Reefer transport, one using refrigerated trucks, trailers and shipping containers is used to ship items that require temperature-controlled environments. Reefer freight is vital nowadays due to the time and temperature sensitive cargo being shipped across larger and larger distances in shorter time frames.

Before modern-day shipping containers appeared in the mid-20th century, loading and unloading of vessels comprised very labour-intensive and time-consuming exercises. Barrels, sacks and wooden crates of various sizes and shapes were used to carry goods to the port, where they were then loaded onto the dock and transferred to waiting ships for their oceanic journeys.

Back in the 16th century seafood products were very popular but, due to the difficulty in transporting them, were limited to people living near coastal areas, rivers or lakes.

In the early 1800’s ice and salt were placed under and alongside cargo with the aim to reduce spoilage. Though an improvement, it was still impractical. Livestock was dying in transit resulting in significant profit losses for farmers. Meat products were also going off before reaching their final destinations.

  1. 1867. The first patent for refrigerated rail cars was granted to J.B Sutherland from Detroit. His design for reefers included a special holding area for ice at each end of the purpose built box car.
  2. 1876. Charles Tellier, the “Father of the Cold”, created the 1st ether-based refrigeration system to maintain a temperature of 0°C inside the boxes. Their tiny size allowed scientist to install three of them on a steamboat called “The Frigorific.”
  3. 1877. Another French engineer, Ferdinand Carré, perfected Charles Tellier’s system, managing to ship 150 tonnes of frozen meat over 50 days, from Sydney to the UK, in a ship equipped with compression refrigeration. The journey successfully transported all perishable cargo without any incidents.

1900’s. The 1st refrigerated vessels specially designed to transport bananas, such as the Port Morant, appeared in 1901. CO2 machines were then used to reduce the temperature and control it. This marked a decisive step forward for the transport of temperature sensitive fruit.

Mid-way through the 1930’s the first portable air-cooling unit was invented by Fred Jones. These units were placed on the outside of trucks that carried perishable foods. By the late 1930’s refrigerated trailers were reaching 38-40 feet in length.

It is not until the 1950s/60s that we entered the golden age of refrigerated containers, a real revolution in the shipping world. By then reefer transport was better controlled and new foodstuffs, such as tropical fruits or even meat, could be shipped across any ocean.

The 1970s saw the arrival of refrigerated containers especially designed to be transported by container carriers. Reefer containers existed in various shapes and sizes each were equipped with their own, separate cooling units controlling the inside atmosphere. Onboard a ship, the reefers were plugged into the onboard power supply system. At the terminals or when carried inland they were connected to reefer plug points or provided with a clip-on generator sets. This system is still largely in use today within the cold supply chain.

The Future: new systems are being created and are already in operation that make controlling various parameters of the container remotely possible. These include temperature control, accidents, door openings, alarms, etc. This type of smart technology will enable a better control of container transport from its origin to the destination.

The success of companies that transport temperature-controlled products comes down to knowing how to ship a product with temperature control adapted to the shipping circumstances and to each type of equipment used, as well as their knowledge of the requirements of each perishable goods type. We are now in the twentieth century and we are seeing a glimpse of the power that the Internet of Things has over transport equipment. At the Escola we are excited to see how the reefer containers continue to evolve and facilitate safe and rapid transport.

Intrigued? You can learn about reefer containers and temperature-controlled supply chains in our technical course dedicated especially to this type of transport. Register now here.

Written by:

  • Raquel Nunes, Training Programmes & External Relations Manager (Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport)