Good communication between the driver and the unloading team can help. “We have optimized the process so drivers at the receiving end can use their web app or mobile app to notify our customer and us that they’ve been on a door for a while and this needs attention,” McPaul says. Since it can take ve or six hours to unload a trailer with a mix of products, it’s important to keep the dock cooled and keep a tight seal around the dock door. “If it’s 95 degrees out, the humidity created from the reefer unit blowing the cold air can create a real problem if the dock’s not properly cooled, or not refrigerated at all,” says Druckenmiller. TRAINING AND COLLABORATION To avoid problems during unloading, or other breaks in the cold chain, Agri Exotic relies on strong standard operating procedures (SOPs). “It’s a matter of training and making sure that everybody in the process is aware, respects the product, and knows how to handle it,” Kaminsky says. Agri Exotic sources seasonal produce from around the world and distributes it to hotels, restaurants, and retail stores across the New York metropolitan area. Agri arranges for carriers to transport produce from its suppliers, and then it uses its own eet of refrigerated trucks to deliver to customers. Trailers that transport Agri’s products use analog devices called strip chart recorders to monitor the temperature. “Let’s say you have a three-day trip out of California,” Kaminsky says. “It plots every hour, and if it gets outside the correct temperature zone, there’s a problem.” The recorder doesn’t transmit information in real time. But when the load arrives at Agri’s facility, workers check the log while also carefully examining the produce. “Certain commodities are more prone to injury if it’s too cold or too hot,” Kaminsky says. If the log shows problems with the temperature in
FRESH DEL MONTE GETS IT DOWN COLD Fresh Del Monte, a vertically integrated producer, distributor, and marketer of fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, has ordered 2,200 Daikin ZeSTIA cold chain units. Ten are fitted with Daikin’s controlled atmosphere technology. Headquartered in Japan, Daikin Reefer supplies refrigeration and climate control solutions for freight containers. Fresh Del Monte’s South American regional oce acquired 1,700 of the units, which will be used on the busy trade between Central America and the United States, where the primary shipments are bananas and pineapples. An additional 500 ZeSTIA units will be used during the 2022/2023 Chilean fruit season on the Chile-U.S. trade, carrying primarily grapes, apples, peaches, plums, and blueberries.
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