Technology to reduce waste:
Do you have any idea how many fruits and vegetables are composted or thrown overboard on cruise ships every year? I can tell you that these amounts are very high. All this waste and garbage of course has an impact on nature, society and the economy. All the more reason for shipping companies to find solutions. For example, some ships already have drying systems or bio-digestion solutions. In addition, more and more attention is being paid to the composition, presentation and quantity of menus to reduce the amount of waste. Some cruise lines aim to reduce food waste and leftovers by 40% by 2025 and 50% by 2030.
Although each cruise ship enters a port almost every day, the quality, price and quantity of a particular product are certainly taken into account when purchasing per port. As with the transport and storage of fruits and vegetables, each cruise ship has to deal with storage areas and the specific behavior of fruits and vegetables at certain temperatures. Usually a cruise ship has several restaurants/galleries, each with its own refrigeration and freezer units. A cruise ship usually also has a central cold storage room. In previous posts on LinkedIn, I have written about the risks of cross-contamination due to airborne mold, as well as ‘hormonal’ ripening – ethylene gas – and the effects this can have on stored or transiting produce.
A cruise ship is not very different from an aircraft carrier in terms of the number of people on board. There are often thousands of people on board. They all require fresh, healthy and safe food. On US Navy aircraft carriers, air purification and disinfection systems are installed in cold rooms for this purpose. Because the filter management of conventional systems is too complex and costly, and because of the problems associated with the disposal of waste materials, the US Navy opted years ago for a system in which the filter does not play the main role and the ethylene gas is oxidized at the same time.
To safely reduce waste, there is more than one reference:
This UV-C irradiation/oxidation technology can extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by 2 to 3 times. Neither gases nor chemicals come into contact with the products to be protected. This technology has now also been discovered by the Danish Navy. The navy has now installed several devices in the cold storage rooms of its frigates. In Turkey, the Güngen company has decided to install this technology in the cold rooms of six oil tankers (you can read their experience report by clicking here).
Regardless of where the technology to reduce food waste comes from, there are probably several possibilities for its application in the maritime sector. If this technology is used on cruise ships, it is certain to help reduce food waste even further.
For more information about the technology and the possibilities for refrigerated transportation and storage, as well as transshipment points, get in touch with us! Contact information:
