MacAndrews finds short-sea reefer option

MacAndrews finds short-sea reefer option    U.K.-based MacAndrews has completed initial trials of shipping fresh produce in 45-foot high-cube “pallet-wide” reefer containers from Spain to the United Kingdom and Ireland by sea, as an alternative to trucking.
   The trials included shipments of lettuce, broccoli, citrus, apples, pears, mandarins, lemons and onions. MacAndrews said the trials showed a successful outturn quality of the products moving from Iberia in reefer containers, when compared to over-the-road trucking.
   The trials comprised door-to-door movements by road to Bilbao and the onward shipment by sea on MacAndrews’ intra-European containerships.
   The shipping line is targeting this alternative to road transport at European growers and buyers of temperature-controlled commodities.
   “We are now concentrating on convincing (reefer) category managers within the fresh produce sector to transfer a proportion of their truck movements to our seaborne solutions before we make a significant investment in a dedicated pool of 45-foot reefers,” said Mark Copsey, Iberian trade manager at MacAndrews, a subsidiary of CMA CGM. “Currently, most of the fresh produce grown in Iberia moves overland by truck to the supermarket shelves of the European Union.”
   MacAndrews noted that shipping is more friendly to the environment than road transport, and the European Union policy aims to promote a shift to intra-European shipping.
   Geoff Smith, managing director of MacAndrews, said the trials are the result of more than two years study in cooperation with the port of Bristol.