Pangaean has now been fully operational for four weeks and has been importing and exporting perishables such as fruit and vegetables, flowers, seafood and pharmaceuticals.
Within its airport location, the company’s newly fitted-out facility is held constantly at 4ºC, a blast chiller and customs clearance facilities. These units have been converted to a state-of-the-art chilled facility, by building an inner insulated shell with sliding doors and installing air-cooled condensing chillers. This sealed system will ensure minimum temperature fluctuation. A section of roller bed floor in the cool room will also allow de-bulking of aircraft containers.
Pangaean offers a ‘from the aircraft to final destination on the same day’ service, as well as pricing and tray sorting of retail units for delivery directly to supermarket distribution centres. The company also offers a cash-and-carry service, called Products Direct, of fine flowers to florists and other suppliers. Collecting straight from the growers, using the nearest airport in the country of origin, Pangaean then stores the flowers at the required temperature for customers to collect.
John Crofts first thought of opening this airfreighted perishables facility in Manchester five years ago whilst working at a perishables handling centre at Heathrow. “After some extensive market research into fresh produce traders in the area, as well as seafood and pharmaceutical, we found there was a definite market out there,” he says. “Fresh produce covers approximately 50 per cent of the operation and flowers 20 per cent.
“Although importing produce is our main business, we do also have requests to export out to the Canary Islands and Dubai. Interest for imports has come from a number of produce suppliers in the North of England and Scotland, which will be airfreighting for the first time, plus suppliers based in the South who have northern customers. Our offer is very attractive, as we have cut a lot of time out of the process by having a customs facility here.”
“We are generating demand here in the North West for airfreighted perishables,” says Crofts. “We have excellent road links to the Irish ferry ports, enabling product to make the evening crossings.”
Manchester Airport’s route network has rapidly expanded, through regular long- haul scheduled and chartered passenger flights, and through a fast-growing freighter network. There is high capacity from North America, the subcontinent and the Far East, as well as an increasing number of flights originating in Southern Africa and South America.
Crofts says that the business’s main customers are large supermarket suppliers and wholesalers. “The chill chain is obviously very important to our supermarket suppliers as the supermarket will reject fresh produce if it is probed and its temperature is too high,” he says. “Airfreighting is a complicated business, especially if your company is outside London, and most shy away from it as a result. But with this facility’s combination of compliance with chill chain regulations and customs clearance capability, we manage the complexity on our customers’ behalf.” Crofts relies on the reliable motorway network that exists in the North West, and Pangaean works with all of the airlines that come into Manchester airport. The company’s services are aimed at businesses that have not considered airfreighting perishables before in the North West, as well as companies that are based in the South but have customers in the North. “We offer a low-cost solution to Heathrow by minimising road food miles,” says Croft.
Last week, Pangaean was importing orchids into the centre from Taiwan that went straight to consumers at the Cheshire Country Show, as part of its Products Direct business. “This is another string to our bow,” says Crofts, who is keen to investigate all business opportunities.
Crofts is confident that the new centre will become part of everyday business for fresh produce companies in the North West. “In three years’ time we hope to move to a bigger building and import more product,” he says.
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