Explora Journeys, the cruise division of the MSC Group, are now using smart containers to guarantee they load only the freshest produce onto their ships.
Each smart container is fitted with internet connected devices to collect data such as position, temperature, and humidity, and monitored remotely around the clock from a centralised Customer Service Centre in Antwerp, Belgium.
Any problem that arises during transport triggers an alert to the supplier that can then be resolved on the go to ensure that food products are delivered without having to dispatch a costly replacement. This greatly benefits chilled and frozen goods such as meat, seafood, and dairy produce.
MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys both source most of their food locally – some 96 per cent – but in the event of a product not being available locally, goods are taken to ships from a series of warehouses around the world.
The scale of the overall food delivery operation is considerable. Every year MSC Cruises’ fleet of 22 ships is stocked with 5,500 different items of food and beverage, including 32 million eggs, 6 million litres of milk, 170,000 oysters, 2 million tomatoes, 900,000kg of apples and 800,000kg of lemons.
Each of MSC Cruises’ 22 ships carries on average 22,500kg of fresh fruit, 20,000kg of fresh vegetables and 5,400 kg of fish during a 7-night voyage.
“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,” managing director, of MSC Procurement & Logistics, Paolo Raia, said. “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.”
