ABANORTE, BFV, Brasilfoods, DAMCO, Dole South Africa, Global Agrisystem, Hellmann, Maersk Line, Pacific Seaways and Safmarine join speaker line-up for annual perishable logistics and transport forum
London, 05.07.2011 – Cold chain transport and logistics capacity to support perishable BCOs in key import and export growth markets, including Africa, China, India and Latin America, will be among the major topics of debate at the 4th annual Cool Logistics Global conference on 24-26 September in Antwerp, Belgium.
While globalisation of the world food, flower and pharmaceutical markets is creating new business opportunities, heightened risks are also emerging along the logistics and transport chain. These include inadequate overland cold chain infrastructure and expertise in new growth areas, maintaining cargo quality and safety along long and often fragmented supply chains, and dealing with a tangle of disparate importinspection regimes.
Not least, the current volatility in world liner shipping and the threats this poses for reefer container services is a significant cause for concern. Faced with turbulent times, the future ofglobal refrigerated transport in its current form may well be at stake, as one major carrier involved in shipping reefer containers will say at this autumn’s conference.
Delegates attending the annual event will hear from major perishable cargo owners including José Perottoni, External Market Logistics Director for Brasilfoods. Active in over 110 countries, the Brazilian food company is among today’s global giants in natural and processed food, including poultry, pork, beef, dairy, and prepared meals. Perottoni, who oversees the company’s entire inbound and outbound transport process, including monthly shipments of over 8, 00040ft container-loads of frozen and chilled products, will discuss what Brasil foods needs from the logistics and transport community to effectively manage its global programme.
Maintaining competitive export logistics for Latin America’s fruit trades will be the theme for Jorge de Souza, Director of Brazilian grower association ABANORTE and Francisco Labarca, Executive Director at PacificSeaways, the specialist carrier established in 1980 by a group of Chile’s leading fruit exporters.
The rising influence of China and India in world perishable markets is among the key shifts that cold chain logistics and transport will now need to accommodate. Marc Evrard, Business Development Manager at BFV will discuss how Belgium’s largest fruit grower cooperative has built an import chain into China overthe last two years, following a landmark trade agreement that opened up the Chinese market for Belgian conference pears.
Developments in India will be explored by Sunil Sharma, Managing Director of Global Agrisystem, one of the country’s leading fruit and vegetable exporter and agri-business players, joined by Capt.Pawanexh Kohli, founder of Indian cold chain think-tank CrossTreetechno-visors. With a middle-class consumer base due to reach 583 million by 2025, India is tipped to be a key force inthe global realignment of consumer spending towards Asia. But thecountry’s cold chain logistics skills and infrastructure will need significant improvement to cope. Sharma and Kohli will explore challenges and opportunities for capitalising on the country’s projected importand export demand growth.
“We are delighted to have cargo owners representing a wide range of commodity and market sectors this year, alongside senior figures from the world of perishable logistics, forwarding, shipping, transport and handling, ” said Rachael White, Director at Cool Logistics Resources. “Cool Logistics Global willprovide a timely opportunity to compare and contrast real-world experiences across different perishable supply chains and discuss how all the parties ‘from farm to fork’ can work together to address rising cost, capacity, quality and regulatory pressures.”
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