Improving efficiency with new refrigerated transportation

Sado Kisen (Sado City, Niigata Prefecture) consolidates cargo in multiple temperature zones into a single container to address 2024 problems and environmental issues.

Sado Kisen Kaisha Co., Ltd. (Sado City, Niigata Prefecture) and Sado Kisen Transport Co., Ltd. will collaborate with ITE Co., Ltd., a developer of refrigeration technology, to launch a new refrigerated transportation service using the “Ice Battery System” on the Niigata Ryotsu route. The system has already been put into operation on a trial basis in transactions with some companies, and is aiming for full-scale launch in July.

ITE is a company that provides low-temperature logistics services, with a track record of implementing its solutions for 250 companies and municipalities both domestically and internationally. The company’s “IceBattery System” is a coolant that, once frozen in a freezer, can maintain its cold temperature for several hours. Depending on the number of units used, it can maintain temperature for up to 160 hours and can be reused after re-freezing. The temperature range can also be adjusted.

Image of a roll box pallet. The blue and green board-like items inside are IceBatteries. The roll box pallet is sealed with an insulated shipper (the silver part on the outside) to maintain temperature.

In this operation, four roll box pallets are stored in a 6-foot container

According to Sado Kisen, there are issues such as cold storage time for container transportation using ice and dry ice so far, and on the other hand, there are problems such as idling time for cars and long working hours for drivers to transport directly by truck or by car ferry. This time, container transportation using the “Ice Battery System” aims to achieve a higher level of refrigerated transportation, solve the problems of 2024 in the transportation industry, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

In this operation, four roll box pallets are stored in a 6-foot (2-ton) container that is temperature-controlled by an IceBattery. In conventional transportation, different temperature-zone products required separate containers or transport trucks. However, the “IceBattery System” allows for temperature control on a roll box pallet basis, enabling the mixed loading of frozen, refrigerated, and room-temperature items in the same container and truck, thereby improving transportation efficiency and reducing costs.

According to ITE, this is the first time in Japan that marine transportation will mix cargoes of different temperature zones in one container.

Pankaj Garg, CEO, explains about IceBattery

At a press conference held at Sado Kisen’s Niigata office on June 21, Hideo Odo, President and CEO of Sado Kisen, explained, “For about two years, the Group has been promoting various initiatives under a new management team to revitalize its business. Providing new logistics services like this is part of our management reforms.

On the other hand, Pankaj Garg, CEO of ITE, said, “Through this low-temperature logistics, various items from fresh food to medical supplies will reach Sado, and conversely, Sado products will go to Tokyo. This exchange of goods will increase the number of people visiting Sado. I see the potential for new economic development.”

Currently, trial operations are being carried out mainly on shipss departing from Niigata for existing customers, with full-scale operations starting in July onwards. As for the Naoetsu-Ogi route, the decision to introduce the service will be made after observing the situation on the Niigata-Ryotsu route.