Floating a new idea

Publication Sponsor NEWS

We want to float a new idea

As suppliers come under increasing pressure to reduce the environmental impact of banana shipping, we believe our proposal for a new breed of reefer ship offers the category a far more sustainable solution.

OLE SCHACK PETERSEN

Reefer Intel Owner & Chief Executive

BIRGER LINDBERG SKOV

Reefer Intel Owner & Chairman

ABOVE—A mockup of the proposed Reefer RoRo vessel, showing containers on deck

Anew type of reefer vessel could cut time spent loading and unloading bananas in ports, and reduce the industry’s environmental impact. We believe one such solution is the Reefer RoRo vessel, our company Reefer Intel’s patented design. It’s a standard ro-ro, but the space below deck is insulated and sealed to create ten individual, gas-tight temperature zones, all with controlled atmosphere. Cargo is loaded into these areas using specially designed Maffi-Cassettes.

With space for reefer containers to be placed on the deck above, using the ship’s own equipment, the vessel is capable of carrying about 13,000 tonnes of bananas (or pineapples) per voyage, with a maximum port discharge time of 18 hours. By comparison, competing vessels require longer: a minimum of 48 hours for container vessels, and 72 hours for conventional reefer vessels.

There are other advantages. The Reefer RoRo is able to berth at the quayside and close to adjacent facilities. This saves long journeys inland by truck or barge, for example from Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte II container terminal to cold-storage and ripening facilities in Antwerp. At the supply end, large, multinational- and family-controlled production centres are increasing in size, and they all need a zero-carbon propulsion solution.

Being able to call directly at fruit storage and ripening facilities makes it easier to transport the fruit more cleanly, something which is vital to the economic stability of the countries concerned. It also reduces the end-toend CO2 footprint by 35-40 per cent compared with the container vessel mode.

The vessels use ammoniac or methanol-fuelled main engines, and e-biofuels to power cooling and container equipment. All these fuels are renewable, and some could even be generated from plant residues derived from banana and pineapple production. They can also take a large volume of back-haul freight from the Northern Hemisphere – like cars, trucks and other rolling cargo.

NUMBERS STACK UP

The likely investment in one vessel is US$60m, with an estimated lifetime of 28 years. So the total outlay for a fleet of 24-30 vessels is US$1.44bn- US$1.80bn. At present, bananas and pineapples are about 30 per cent of all seaborne refrigerated volumes, or about 120 of our vessels. We see the potential global market share at 20-25 per cent, and the vessels would be built over a period of 5-6 years.

It’s a much-needed change. The market for bananas and pineapples carried by sea is about 25m tonnes a year, with CAGR of 3-4 per cent over the last two decades. Compared with containers, the vessel’s potential rate would be US$1 per box lower on a Central America to Northern Europe run. Against conventional reefers, the saving is US$1.8 per box. All at 8 per cent ROIC.

This saving is absolutely essential to ensure the sustainability of the future banana trades. Today, they are even further hampered by higher freight rates, so the difference a Reefer RoRo can make is even greater. The UN FAO says “fast population growth in producing countries as well as expanding global import demand” has led to a rapid increase in banana production and exports. Producers in Central and South America, West Africa, and the Philippines depend on the trade, so an environmentally sustainable transport solution is vital to meet demand for ‘green’ products.

The Reefer RoRo has a higher capacity utilisation, spends less time in ports, and gets closer to key links in the chain. So it can run slower at sea, uses less fuel itself, and requires less additional onward transportation. We see it as an unmatched, greener, and more economically sound solution for the future of fruit transport. _