Cold chain logistics becomes a trend in China

Yingjisha county in Kashi prefecture, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has managed to expand the sales channel of apricots by extending the shelf life.

Currently poverty-stricken, the county began growing apricot trees over 400 years ago. However, due to the short shelf life and long transportation distance, the sales of the fruits were restricted.

In 2018, the county started to build a standard management system consisting of the production, packing and sales of apricots, under the support of a local fruit company.

One year later, an automatic sorting line and nine nitrogen gas packing lines were established. These new solutions could extend the shelf life of fruits from seven to 25 days.

Cold chain logistics has also been adopted to help fruits from Xinjiang reach more places around the country. In July 2019, 30 tons of apricots from Yingjisha were transported to Beijing by a cold chain vehicle.

"Last year, my apricot orchard generated nearly 20,000 yuan ($2,860) of income for me after the sales channel became unimpeded," a local farmer shared.

Manzhouli port on the China-Russia border handles large quantities of meat and dairy products between China and foreign countries.

Every year, more than 300,000 tons of fruits and vegetables are exported to Russia through the port. As the cost of cold chain cargo train services drops, many exporters have chosen containers for the transportation of their products.

When it comes to a distance longer than 6,500 kilometers, railway cold chain transportation is more cost-saving than road transportation, according to the general manager of a transportation company in Heilongjiang province, northeast China.

During the outbreak of COVID-19, the Manzhouli customs proactively streamlined clearance procedures to facilitate the exportation of fresh products, according to Wu Qingyan, deputy director of the Manzhouli customs.

Statistics indicated that more than 100 containers have been handled by the Manzhouli customs since the launch of the first freight train carrying fruits and vegetables on April 2. More than 30 kinds of products, with a total weight of 4,794 tons, have been transported.

At a cold chain logistics park in Zhangzhou, Southeast China's Fujian province, about 20 transfer vehicles are employed to transport refrigerated goods in and out of the storage houses.

"To put it simply, we are a big refrigerator. Our clients entrusted us to store their products here and keep them safe," said the chairman of a local cold chain storage company.

In less than two hours, four workers could unload 30 tons of french fries to a storage house with a temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius, with the help of an automatic lift truck.

Maintaining a daily handling capacity of 500 tons, the company is able to satisfy the need for cold chain logistics from dozens of foreign trade companies in the city, the chairman added.