The APL Advantage

Forging a partnership with you

At APL, everything we do is driven by one main goal: working hand-in-hand with all our customers to understand the needs and going all out to supersede their expectations.

For instance, to ensure a smooth and reliable transit for your products, our APL reefer specialists will work closely with you to determine your needs and tailor the services to meet your requirements.

State-of-the-art equipment

Apart from having APL's proven track record and reefer experts to handle all your needs, you will also benefit from APL's large, young fleet comprising the industry's most technologically advanced refrigerated containers. Our fleet also contains many high-capacity designs for more efficient and economical loading.

Setting a new level in service standard: fast, efficient & reliable

APL quickly and reliably moves perishable commodities on its integrated intermodal system - a combination of vessel, stacktrain and truck transportation. The reliability of this service, in combination with frequent arrivals and departures and highly competitive transit times, enables us to help you respond faster to changes in price and demand.

Careful monitoring at every step

Quality assurance is an important element of APL's approach. So you can depend on our personnel to carefully monitor your shipments of perishables through every stage of their journey, continually checking to ensure that the many factors that can affect the shelf life of a product - from sanitation and packing to air circulation and temperature - are properly managed.

Best-of-class IT tools

APL's global network is supported by the industry's most advanced computer and telecommunication systems. With the industry's first customizable website HomePort®, you can easily enter, review, submit, save and print your shipping instructions online.

So with APL's entire logistics and transportation resources at one location, you enjoy quick, easy access to the information you need. You can track and trace the status of all your active shipments from origin to destination, and obtain real-time details. Everything is made available to you with just the click of the mouse, 24 hours a day.

Source-loading for longer shelf life

With APL, commodities can be loaded into a refrigerated container at the packing house, storage facility or slaughterhouse, and then trucked or moved by stacktrain to their vessel connection. Source-loading directly at origin dramatically improves the shelf life and quality of many perishables.

Leading the industry in technology and market development

APL has been at the forefront of many advances in the reefer industry. On the technological side, we pioneered computer-controlled refrigerated containers and developed specialized motor generators that allow refrigerated units to move on double-stack container trains. Among other accomplishments in the market development area, APL was the first ocean carrier to ship asparagus from California to Japan, seafood from India to the United States and live trees from California to the Arabian Gulf region.