MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys have linked up with sister company MSC to use smart containers to ensure the freshest produce is loaded on to the lines’ ships after delivery from a warehouse.
Each smart container is fitted with Internet-connected devices to collect data such as position, temperature and humidity, and monitored remotely around the clock from a centralised customer service centre in Antwerp, Belgium.
A problem in transit during the transportation of goods by road or sea triggers an alert to the supplier that can then be resolved enroute to ensure products that depend on an exact environment for freshness can be delivered without having to dispatch a costly replacement. The smart containers are particularly beneficial for chilled and frozen goods such as meat, seafood and dairy produce.
MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys source about 96% of their food locally. However, when a product is not available goods are delivered to ships from warehouses around the world.
For deliveries from its northern Italian warehouse in Genoa, MSC Cruises last year used smart containers and saw an improved level of quality assurance compared with 2022 when the line used traditional means of transporting food in regular containers by road and sea.
Every year, MSC Cruises’ fleet of 22 ships is stocked with 5 500 different items of food and beverages, including 32 million eggs, six million litres of milk, 170 000 oysters, two million tomatoes, 900 000 kg of apples and 800 000 kg of lemons.
Each of MSC Cruises’ 22 ships carries on average 22 500 kg of fresh fruit, 20 000 kg of fresh vegetables and 5 400 kg of fish during a seven-night voyage.
MSC Procurement and Logistics Managing Director, Paolo Raia, said the smart containers had improved the efficiency of the supply chain to vessels.
“The use of smart containers has made a significantly positive impact on the supply of food, especially in markets where it is a challenge to source and acquire all the products locally. For example, for our ships in the Middle East the local production is limited, and some goods can take several weeks travelling from the warehouse to the vessel,” he said.
“Another major advantage with smart containers is that in real time we can constantly monitor the humidity and temperature of the goods being transported and change the parameters in transit, if required, to deliver with absolute confidence the freshest and finest food for our guests.”
