Each smart container has an internet connection relaying data such as position, temperature and humidity, which is monitored remotely around the clock from a centralized Customer Service Center in Antwerp, Belgium. A problem during the transportation of goods by road or sea triggers an alert to the supplier, which allows them to resolve the issue during transit to ensure food products that depend on exact environmental conditions for freshness can be delivered without having to dispatch costly, delayed replacements.
The smart containers are particularly beneficial for chilled and frozen goods such as meat, seafood and dairy products.
MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys source most of their food locally – around 96 percent – but in the event of a product not being available nearby, goods arrive from a series of warehouses around the world. From its northern Italian warehouse in Genoa, MSC Cruises used smart containers last year and saw an improved level of quality assurance compared to the year before, when the line used traditional means of transporting food by road and sea.
The scale of the overall food delivery operation is considerable. Every year MSC Cruises’ fleet of 22 ships is stocked with 5,500 different food and beverage items, including 32 million eggs, 1.5 million gallons of milk, 170,000 oysters, 2 million tomatoes, 2 million pounds of apples and 1.7 million pounds of lemons.
On average, each of MSC Cruises’ 22 ships carries 50,000 pounds of fresh fruit, 44,000 pounds of fresh vegetables and 12,000 pounds of fish during a 7-night voyage.
Paolo Raia, Managing Director, MSC Procurement & Logistics, said: “The use of smart containers has made a significant positive impact on the supply of food, especially in markets where it is a challenge to source and acquire all of the products locally. For example, for our ships in the Middle East the local production is limited, and some goods can take several weeks travelling from the warehouse to the vessel.
“Another major advantage with smart containers is that in real time we can constantly monitor the humidity and temperature of the goods being transported and change the parameters in transit, if required, to deliver with absolute confidence the freshest and finest food for our guests.”
