As the Houthis repeatedly attack ships around the Red Sea, significant ``circumvention'' of maritime shipping routes has become an issue. Under these circumstances, Sumitomo Corporation, a major trading company, will soon form a business alliance with a major shipping company in Hong Kong, and will introduce new technology that will allow for longer container transportation of fresh foods.
This new container transportation technology is characterized by the ability to significantly extend the number of days required for chilled transportation, in which fresh food is transported by ship in its raw state without being frozen.
A voltage is applied inside the temperature-controlled container to create a state called an "electric field," which causes the water molecules in the food to rotate, thereby preventing the progress of spoilage while maintaining freshness.
Compared to conventional chilled transportation, it is possible to extend the transportation period for many foods by two to three times.For example, for pork, the conventional 20 days to 60 days, for yellowtail, Up until now, most of the products have been transported by air, but it is now possible to transport them by ship.
Sumitomo Corporation plans to soon form a business alliance with OOCL, a major shipping company in Hong Kong, and proceed with the introduction of the system.
According to the company, commercialization is the first in the world, and a major meat processing manufacturer has decided to use it to import pork from Spain.
Although the issue of rising transportation costs due to maritime transportation around the Red Sea, the company expects to be able to reduce the amount of costs passed on to product prices.
Takashi Yanai, General Manager of Sumitomo Corporation's Logistics Infrastructure Business Headquarters, said, ``This has a huge impact on us, so we have to think about how to deliver goods as smoothly as possible while consulting with shipping and logistics companies.'' I was there.
Houthi attack on ships also affects maritime transport from Japan
Attacks on ships by the Houthis around the Red Sea are also having an impact on maritime transport connecting Japan and the rest of the world.
▽ Seicomart, a Hokkaido-based convenience store, has been out of stock of some of its spaghetti side dishes since late January.
This is due to delays in pasta imports from Europe, and the company says there is a risk that the shortage will continue until the end of March.
It is expected that this will be resolved from April.
▽JATCO, an automobile parts manufacturer located in Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture, has begun shipping parts by sea from Europe about 10 to 20 days later than usual, so this year they are shipping some parts by air. This means that we have switched to transporting
Although transportation costs will increase, the company says that it is an unavoidable measure in order to avoid delaying production plans, and the company will continue to transport products by plane for some time.