The Cruise division of the MSC Group will apply smart containers for the delivery of fresher food.

 

Geneva, Switzerland, August 14, 2024. MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys have teamed up with sister company MSC, a world leader in container shipping, to use smart containers. In this way they ensure that the freshest products are loaded onto the lines’ ships after delivery from a warehouse.

 

Smart containers

Each smart container is equipped with Internet-connected devices to collect data such as position, temperature and humidity. They are also monitored remotely 24 hours a day from a centralized Customer Service Center in Antwerp, Belgium.

 

A problem in transit during transport of goods by road or sea triggers an alert to the supplier that can then be resolved en route. This ensures that food products that depend on the exact environment for freshness can be delivered without having to send a costly replacement.

 

Smart containers are especially beneficial for refrigerated and frozen products such as meat, seafood and dairy products.

 

MSC and Explora

Both MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys source most of their food locally (about 96 percent). But in the event that a product is not available locally, products are brought to the ships from a number of warehouses around the world.

 

From the northern Italian warehouse in Genoa, MSC Cruises used smart containers last year and saw a better level of quality assurance than in 2022, when the line used traditional means of transporting food by road and sea.

 

The scale of the global food delivery operation is considerable. Each year, MSC Cruises’ fleet of 22 ships is supplied with 5,500 different food and beverage items, including 32 million eggs, 6 million liters of milk, 170,000 oysters, 2 million tomatoes, 900,000 kg of apples and 800,000 kg of lemons.

 

Each of MSC Cruises’ 22 ships carries an average of 22,500 kg of fresh fruit, 20,000 kg of fresh vegetables and 5,400 kg of fish during a 7-night voyage.

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