Product quality a major benefit
JOY ORLEK
GLOBAL COMPETITION in the perishable export market leaves no margin for error which is why more and more companies in the airfreight industry are latching on to the benefits of dry ice for the movement of fresh and frozen cargo.
“A major benefit is product quality,” says East Rand-based Dry Ice International co-owner Hendrik Strampe.
“If you consider the time taken from loading at the freight agent’s premises until loading onto the aircraft, that’s three to four hours, which allows for a lot of temperature build-up. And then there’s the offloading at destination, all of which leads to product deterioration and contamination.
“With dry ice you minimise that variation, which results in far better product quality, especially in the case of the flower industry.”
While dry ice is available in a variety of options, the recently introduced Heat Buster Box is ideally suited to the speedy movement of perishable products, in Strampe’s view.
“The purpose of the Heat Buster is not only to give a satisfactory level of cooling of your product. It will in fact slow down the rate of sublimation (changing from a solid to a gas) and therefore provide a more constant and regulated flow of coldness throughout the container.
“Slots in the Heat Buster allow for the regulated flow of carbon dioxide gas into the transporter’s container, creating an even spread of cooling over a longer period of time.”
Dry ice has been successfully used in the transport of a range of goods from ostrich and other meat products to ice cream, fruit and fruit salad, asparagus and flowers.
Compared to alternative methods of cooling, like the envirotainer, it’s highly cost-effective, says Strampe.
