Tailored to meet the needs of reefer customers: the new CES service

Hapag-Lloyd just introduced its Caribbean Express Service (CES), which connects Central America with ports in North Europe. It is the first service to ever be specifically tailored to meet the needs of reefer customers. Sergio Cuahutle, Senior Sales Manager Execution at Hapag-Lloyd (America) LLC, explains which customers it targets and the advantages of shipping fruits in reefer containers.

What sort of customers is Hapag-Lloyd targeting with this service?

Costa Rica is the world’s top pineapple producer. Together with Colombia, it also numbers among the top five banana exporters worldwide. So these are the exporters we are targeting. In regard to cargo destination, Rotterdam is the main import port for Europe-bound reefer cargo. Thus, it appeared only logical to us to develop a new service that focuses on refrigerated cargo – mainly fresh bananas and pineapples – from Colombia and Costa Rica to North Europe.

With this in mind, our main targets were those accounts that export one or both of these main commodities on this trade. But we have also have targeted exporters of vegetables, frozen fruits and juices as well as of melons and watermelons during their harvesting seasons.

What are the special needs of those customers, and how does Hapag-Lloyd meet these needs?

As a general rule, exporters of fresh cargo always want to have very reliable weekly services with transit times that are as short as possible. On top of that, they require the service to be regular during the year and to have enough space and equipment to accommodate year-round volumes.

Given these requirements, Hapag-Lloyd offers services with fewer port calls to ensure reliable schedules and short transit times to the top major destination ports in Europe for fresh cargo, i.e. Rotterdam and London Gateway. Moreover, our transit times are quite competitive compared to those offered by the top reefer carriers in the market for some port pairs. For example, we offer a transit time between Puerto Limon and London Gateway of 12 days, and between Puerto Limon and Rotterdam of 13 days.

In addition, we offer fixed allocation for the full year to cover validity of the contract. To cover commercial agreements, we have refrigerated equipment in good condition and in quantities large enough to cover commercial agreements.

What are the advantages of shipping fruit in reefer containers instead of on conventional refrigerator ships. Is there a general trend towards using containers, and how is Hapag-Lloyd participating in this business?

There are plenty of advantages from using refrigerated containers. First, they offer the flexibility to ship quantities as small as one 20’ reefer container. Second, as cargo is stuffed closer to the harvest area or directly from the cold storage and then kept in cold storage until it is delivered to its destination, it also ensures cold chain integrity. Third, cargo can be delivered directly to the customer’s warehouse from the vessel. And, fourth, customers can access new markets based on the reefer carrier’s network.

And there are other factors, as well. For example, the market shows a negative trend for conventional break bulk services, as the tonnage has decreased in this segment in recent years. Some global fruit traders have opted to go with carrier services using dedicated ship systems rather than their own tonnage. This is a good trend for us – and we are happy to support this development with our tailored services.