Challenge
A Dubai food importer was faced with a potentially disastrous situation when he discovered that a large food and beverage shipment he was expecting would be arriving early – just as the New Year holiday period was about to kick off.
Normally the importer would transport deliveries off-site to a rented cold storage facility. However, with the holidays about to kick off, it was going to be impossible to fulfil all the Port authority’s documentation requirements in time. The alternative was to keep the ship docked at the port – fully laden with goods and in full cooling load, for at least a week. Not only would this involve massive costs and energy consumption, but the importer would also have to pay fines for every extra day the ship remained in port.
Solution
The importer needed to find an immediate cold storage solution for the incoming delivery and contacted Trane Rental Services just two days before New Year’s Eve.
Trane Rental Dubai had one suitable Magnum Plus container in stock and was able to acquire a second unit from its Abu Dhabi branch. One of the containers would be used to store meat and frozen food at -18°C and the other to store beverage products at 2°C to 7°C.
With the ship expected on New Year’s Day, deadlines were extremely tight. Trane Rental Services helped the importer secure Port Authority permission to install the units while also:
• Dealing with the necessary documentation
• Conducting two days of site visits and
• Harnessing the skills of engineering, logistics and operations experts.
The tight timescale meant that Trane Rental’s entire Dubai team was involved in the project.
Results
With just hours to go, Trane Rental Dubai was able to install two containerised cold storage Magnum Plus units in time for the ship’s arrival. The solution was ideal for the customer and also impressed the Port Authority which is now continuing to utilize the containers for other shipping clients. The initial week-long rental period has been extended and the Port is now set to undertake a year-long EaaSy “Equipment as a Service“ contract. The Port is also looking to rent a further six containerised cold storage units from Trane Rental Dubai for a six-month period.
The project demonstrated not only how quickly Trane Rental Services can respond to individual customers’ urgent needs but also the benefits for port authorities of having rentable, portable cold storage facilities available onsite. The port is one of the largest in the United Arab Emirates and plays a significant role in facilitating trade between the UAE and countries in the Arabian Gulf, South Asia and East Africa.
Learn more about cold storage
