Chile: ASOEX and Maersk cooperate to curb food waste
“Good food should always move all the way from farm to fork,” says Peter K. Nymand, CEO of the MCI Group. “Our ambition is to unleash Chile’s export potential and avoid waste of food.”
Input from Chilean exporters will help MCI design even better reefers while MCI’s expertise will help ASOEX members make the best use of new hi-tech reefer containers soon built in Chile.
Food waste is not a problem especially linked to exports from Chile. A study from the UN food organisation FAO has concluded that in Europe close to 50% of all fresh produce never makes it to the plate.
Transportation time is just one of many reasons why food goes to waste across the world.
“The world cannot afford this, and we have technologies that can help out,” says Nymand. “For example, if you learn to control the atmosphere inside a container, you will be able to ship fresh fruit and produce longer and farther than before.”
President of ASOEX, Ronald Bown, says: “It is not easy to keep fruit at optimal conditions during transportation so we hope to contribute with our technical and operational knowledge.”
Maersk Container Industry is on track as planned to build a new USD170 million reefer factory in San Antonio, Chile. This means new technology and energy efficient reefers will be available to exporters along the West Coast of South America in early 2014. MCI already has a reefer factory in Qingdao, China.
For more information:
Maersk Container Industry AS
Tel: +45 7364 3400
Fax: +45 7364 3569
www.maersk.com