Kiwi nous sets fresh export standard

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

More than 100 years after New Zealand tackled the tyranny of distance from its markets by freezing food, new developments in storage for fresh products are putting exporters at the threshold of a new era.

The independent research company QPod Systems has spent 10 years and more than $4 million developing a transport and packaging system that could ultimately deliver a combination of fresh New Zealand produce to retail stores almost anywhere in the world, as frequently as required.

Managing director Paul Bosher believes the QPod, a pallet-sized mini-container with an in-built atmosphere control system, could prove as revolutionary as the first shipment of frozen sheep carcasses that left Port Chalmers on the ship Dunedin on February 15, 1882.

Packaging giant Carter Holt Harvey is backing the concept, which is calculated to slash freight costs by enabling fresh or chilled products to be sent by sea instead of air, and increase returns by cutting dependence on frozen food.

QPod, which has completed successful trials with meat exporter Affco and shipping company P&O Nedlloyd, estimates that meat exporters could save between $300 and $2000 a tonne on freight costs.

If half the 10,000 tonnes of meat exported by air last year switched to QPods shipped by sea, freight savings could amount to $5 million, Mr Bosher said.

And substituting just 1 per cent of chilled meat for frozen over five years could be worth $135.2 million to the meat industry, and around $498.3 million over 10 years.

Already, chilled meat sealed in QPods has been shipped alongside frozen product in refrigerated sea containers, but the mix of cargoes could be greatly extended, Mr Bosher said.

He envisages overseas supermarkets ordering a range of New Zealand products including meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables in the quantities they require to meet, for example, a week's needs. The orders would all be delivered in one refrigerated container in which QPods would maintain the different fresh or chilled products in their unique environments, to be wheeled straight into the store on arrival.

The exciting possibilities for the QPod have been developed during the decade Mr Bosher and the company's other 12 founding New Zealand and overseas shareholders have supported work on ways to improve the storage and transport of perishable cargo.

Initial research was done in the US and the results brought to New Zealand for the application of some "Kiwi ingenuity." Much of that has come from a Lincoln University-owned research company, Lincoln Technology, and scientist Frank Bollen.

Worldwide, many millions of dollars have been spent on controlled-atmosphere transport systems with only periodic success.

Put simply, in the 1960s refrigerated sea containers were a big advance on the cavernous holds of ships that had been around since the Dunedin, and in the 1980s came the ability to keep meat chilled in sealed, gas-filled packages.

Most of the recent global effort has gone into controlled-atmosphere sea containers but with little progress.

QPod spent several years doing similar work. "Our breakthrough came when we thought smaller - pallet-size," Mr Bosher said.

It was easier to control atmospheres in the smaller pallet-size containers, and to overcome problems at cross points in the distribution chain when, for instance, power to the units was unavailable, he said.



QPod is finalising a marketing deal with Carter Holt Harvey's packaging division, whose national marketing manager, Tony Dowd, launched the system at last month's Meat Industry Association annual meeting.

Mr Dowd, who joined the company 18 months ago, said Carter Holt Harvey's development engineer, Craig Bonner, had worked on the project for about four years, often in his spare time, and was passionate about it.

Mr Bonner had designed part of the QPod insulating material and wanted "to interest the new boy," Mr Dowd said.

The figures were convincing, showing that the QPod would result in huge cost savings for Carter Holt Harvey client Affco by enabling the company to transport chilled product by sea at a cost of around 60c a kilogram, instead of by air at about $5 a kilogram, he said.

It also allowed greater flexibility, giving meat companies the ability to ship less than a containerload of chilled product at a time, and to mix frozen and chilled meat in a single container.

"It's a good way to add value to the product. There is an 80 per cent premium on chilled meat over frozen," Mr Dowd said.

Carter Holt Harvey planned to hire out the QPods, charging either by the day for each trip or for each kilogram of product. The daily charge would be around $35.

While the QPod system could bring big advantages for New Zealand exporters, Mr Bosher is also confident that the unique QPod technology - protected by a range of patents around the world - will also prove profitable.