The Group has designed an exciting new packaging concept that aims to improve ventilation and a reefer container’s ability to re-cool fruit after breaks in the cold chain take place. This serves to preserve the quality of fresh produce, especially sensitive produce such as table grapes during arduous export journeys.
Produced by Mpact’s Paper Converting business, this innovative solution called Freshflow, could hold far-reaching benefits for the South African agricultural sector’s sustainability and competitiveness.
The country is the third largest exporter of table grapes and is world-renowned for the quality of its table grapes. As such, the sector is a significant contributor to South Africa’s economy despite recent challenges such as extended transit times and unreliable infrastructure.
Application of the new packaging entails transitioning from the conventional container setup and pallet standards used for transporting table grapes, to an optimised system. The result holds numerous advantages, particularly in terms of cost savings and environmental considerations:
Cost savings
The Freshflow configuration offers payload savings of up to 15%, offering exporters a notable reduction in costs.
Quality preservation
Faster Forced Air Cooling times, uniform airflow and optimal temperature control is critical for maintaining the quality and freshness of various types of produce during transportation.
Environmental Impact reduction
A 9.5% to 15% reduction in carbon emissions and 30% reduction in energy consumption during Forced Air Cooling is a commendable achievement. With environmental awareness on the rise, businesses that demonstrate real effort to reduce their carbon footprint are more likely to be recognised by environmentally-conscious consumers, regulatory bodies, and other stakeholders.
Competitiveness
Adopting innovative and efficient packaging solutions can enhance the competitiveness of growers by providing better-quality products and potentially reduce costs.
Mpact conducted additional trials in December 2023 on the most recent table grape harvest, to further test this packaging solution. Based on the outcomes, we will also explore ways in which this solution can add value to customers in other produce categories.