MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys are joining with the world leader in container shipping and their sister company MSC to bring the freshest produce to their guests. The cruise lines will use MSC’s “smart containers” to make sure the highest quality food is loaded onto their ships.
The smart containers use the internet to relay their position, temperature and humidity to a centralized Customer Service Center which is monitored 24/7 in Antwerp, Belgium. Customers receive an immediate alert if there is any problem with the shipping container. This technology allows the customer to resolve the problem and ensure the food is delivered fresh while avoiding costly delays or replacements.
MSC Cruises and Explora Journey source about 96% of their food locally, but some goods are transported from warehouses around the world. The freshness of the food is impacted when transported traditionally by land or sea. MSC Cruises noticed an increase in quality assurance when they transported food from its warehouse in Genoa via smart containers.
Paolo Raia, Managing Director, MSC Procurement & Logistics, said, “The use of smart containers has made a significant positive impact on the supply of food, especially in markets where it is a challenge to source and acquire all of the products locally. For example, for our ships in the Middle East the local production is limited, and some goods can take several weeks traveling from the warehouse to the vessel.”
“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.”
MSC Cruises has a fleet of 22 ships sailing globally whose food operation is staggering. The fleet of ships provides 5,500 different food and beverage items annually. Included is 32 million eggs, 1.5 million gallons of milk, 170,000 oysters, 2 million tomatoes, 2 million pounds of apples, 1.7 million pounds of lemons, 11 million pounds of flour, and 2.2 million gallons of beer. During a 7-day sailing, each ship carries 50,000 pounds of fruit, 44,000 pounds of vegetables, 12,000 pounds of fish, 4.800 pounds of sugar and 9,500 bottles of wine.