For the first time in Kerala, an airport has facilitated temperature-controlled air cargo containers for sending frozen cooked shrimp to the United States of America. The Cochin International Airport Ltd’s (CIAL) cargo division facilitated the shipment in advanced RAP-t2 (pallet) cargo containers, which was maintained at a temperature of minus 20-degree celsius, with a ton of dry ice.
The shipment is from Choice Group, carried out in association with Emirates Sky Cargo. The containers, usually used to carry pharmaceuticals or other such products, have shipped with seafood for the first time. The first container carrying 188 cartons of frozen shrimp is going from CIAL’s Centre for Perishable Cargo to the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York on Sunday.
The Choice Canning Company, a division of the Choice Trading Corporation Pvt Ltd in Kochi, has an automated factory to process cooked shrimps in retail bags. Its website says that it is the first unit in the country to introduce fully air-conditioned and automated Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) hi-tech systems.
After the COVID-19 pandemic struck the country, there has been a huge loss of production for the Choice Canning Company, and this has forced them to look for new options to transport cargo.
The RAP containers will maintain the minus degree temperature throughout the journey. The temperature will be kept in check by around 900 kg (nearly a ton) of dry ice, which will act as a colling agent. There will be an enhanced air circulation system in the container. The CIAL used special equipment and gear during the transit since dry ice is classified as dangerous cargo.
There will be three more shipments from the Choice Group to transport shrimp in this manner in the coming days. Around 750 cartons of frozen cooked shrimp will be transported during the week.