Maritime quality and safety certifier Germanischer Lloyd has certified Cargofresh’s controlled atmosphere (CA) storage system for the transport of bananas.
The companies carried out the trial on a shipment from Costa Rica to Hamburg, and tested both standard dollar bananas of the traditional Cavendish variety and baby bananas. Fruit was transported for 15 days using the Cargofresh CA system. “The principal objective of the shipment was to test the system’s new CO2 controls,” said a Cargofresh spokesperson. “These are designed to prevent bananas being infested with mould, such as the dreaded crown rot.”
Technicians found that during transit, the CA system was able to regulate the proportions of oxygen and carbon dioxide to set specifications accurately. This maintained a high level of atmospheric humidity, and successfully prevented fruit from drying out.
“Thanks to these ideal conditions, the bananas reached Hamburg in an impeccable state,” said the spokesperson. Using the Cargofresh system of optimised CO2 regulation also ensured that even those bananas that had not been treated with fungicide prior to transit were also preserved from crown rot.
Cargofresh ceo Peter Wich said: “These excellent results, and the certification from Germanischer Lloyd, prove once again the high quality and reliability of Cargofresh CA systems. Besides the shipment of sensitive exotic fruit, like mangoes and papayas, this Cargofresh technology can now be used for the marine transport of breathable fruit such as bananas.”
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