Andrew Lorimer, Datamar’s CEO, discusses cold chain logistical challenges at a trade fair in Germany

Andrew Lorimer, CEO of Datamar, was invited to speak yesterday at Fruit Logistica, one of the world`s largest Fruit Logistics fairs, in Berlin, Germany. At the forum, he presented the inherent cold chain logistical challenges faced by Brazil’s reefer export logistics, which were exacerbated by disruptions caused by the pandemic over the past two years.

The inherent challenges in Brazil`s reefer export logistics were framed by comparing reefer demand for proteins versus fruit.  These challenges can be summarized as the mismatch between:

• Reefer exports versus imports – 25% of Brazil`s exports are made up of reefer wheras only 5% of imports are reefer based, leading to a problem in the supply of reefer containers for export.
• The main fruit export destinations which are to Europe, versus main meat export destinations to the Far East.
• The main fruit producing hub being in the North East of Brazil whereas the main meat producing hub is in the South of Brazil, making it difficult to streamline reefer capacities to export both commodities.  This is illustrated in the image below: 
  

Andrew went on to talk about the additional cold chain logistical challenges faced by reefer exports, not least of which was exhorbitent freight rates, causing shipping lines to priorize dry cargo exports at the expense of reefer exports.  This is illustrated in the graphs below:

For a full copy of the material presented, please send your request to comercial@datamar.com.br

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