Agri-Marine expo held in CT
SOPHISTICATED TECHNOLOGY and customised services was a feature of the recent Agri-Marine Expo held in Cape Town.
Among the exhibits by Safmarine was a train specially designed to transport refrigerated containers over long distances. Believed to be unique in Africa, the train will assist in boosting volumes, enhancing the quality and extending the shelf life of fruit exported to Europe and other parts of the world from the South African hinterland.
Also on show was the Genset, widely welcomed by rural fruit growers in South Africa who had previously been marginalised by their distance from port. The Genset is a self-powered generating unit which clips onto integral reefer containers, providing power to the unit thereby maintaining the temperature at the correct level from the interior to the coastal port.
TransFRESH Africa, Safmarine's partner at the exhibition, featured its controlled atmosphere (CA) technology. This involves the carriage of perishable cargo in a refrigerated container in which the oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and ethylene levels are under control.
This way the ripening process is retarded which provides an extended shelf life and gives shippers more time to sell their products.
The more than 100 exhibitors included several from Brandenburg, Germany, the Malaysian Palm Oil Products Council and the African Farmers' Union.
By Ray Smuts
