This year, Hapag-Lloyd will once again make investments to maintain and expand its container fleet. The liner shipping company has ordered 7,700 refrigerated containers (reefers) of the latest generation – including 7,000 40-foot and 700 20-foot units.

One-thousand of the new containers are equipped with controlled atmosphere technology, which slows down the ripening process of various types of fruits and vegetables, thereby allowing them to be transported for longer periods of time while maintaining a consistent quality. Production will already begin in September.

For the first time, 1,000 of the new 40-foot containers will be manufactured in a plant in San Antonio, Chile, a region in which they are in high demand. As a result, it will be possible to reduce the necessary shifting of empty containers from alternative production sites, which saves both time and money in terms of empty transports.

“After the merger with UASC this past May, Hapag-Lloyd has once again significantly grown in the reefer market,” says Anthony J. Firmin, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Hapag-Lloyd. “With these new orders, we are further expanding this position and investing in an efficient and modern fleet as well as in the expansion of our most recent product, ExtraFresh Plus, in order to meet the needs of our customers worldwide.”

Working together with suppliers, Hapag-Lloyd has refined its controlled atmosphere technology. Its ExtraFresh Plus technology allows even extremely sensitive fruits, such as blueberries and lychees, to be transported at the desired level of quality and degree of ripeness.