The "Longan" Short of Cold Treatment Shipping

07 Jan 2004 - The longan fruit is known as the "little brother of the lychee", and like its larger and better-known sibling, it is indigenous to China but is today grown throughout Asia. In addition to being a delicious, healthy source of food, the longan is also a traditional Asian remedy for ailments as diverse as insomnia and snake bites.

Until this year, about the only way consumers in the United States (U.S.) could savour the delights of this exotic delicacy was if they visited China or South East Asia. Since July, however, the U.S. has permitted the import of fresh longan from China, as a result of China's World Trade Organization (WTO) membership.

Ever the pioneer, APL transported the first-ever shipment of longan from China to the U.S. just weeks after the restrictions were lifted. The fruit was shipped from South China to the U.S. West Coast using the Cold Treatment technique in containers from APL's young, technologically advanced refrigerated container (reefer) fleet.

Cold Treatment not only ensured the fruit was in perfect condition throughout its journey, but also helped guarantee the shipment's unhindered passage through U.S. quarantine and anti-pest checks, which are arguably the world's toughest. Importantly, Cold Treatment is an environmentally safe alternative to fumigating fruit in order to eradicate pests such as fruit flies and larvae.

While this was the first-ever shipment of Chinese longan to the U.S., it was in no way a one off. For APL's customer - a major Taiwan-based fruit exporter - it was an opportunity to enter a new and potentially lucrative market.

David Chan, head of APL's Global Reefer Team, explains: "Our experience of transporting lychee for the same customer - also using Cold Treatment - certainly helped us, but to be successful with this milestone shipment, we had to work closely with the customer and their vendors from harvest to final delivery, drawing on all our reefer shipping expertise, as well as our understanding of the customs and quarantine regimes on both sides of the Pacific."

The first shipment was so successful the customer immediately signed APL to transport a larger consignment of the fruit soon after, which also reached its final destination without a hitch. Plans are afoot to repeat the process next year.

Meanwhile, in November APL provided further evidence that it has cool solutions to suit all customers and commodities when it carried its first-ever Cold Treatment shipment of kiwifruit from Italy to the U.S. East Coast.