Internal LATAM Cargo statistics show that around 45% of their cargo volumes are of a perishable nature. No wonder then that the South American carrier puts a lot of emphasis on providing up-to-date and speedy perishable goods handling.
PERISHABLE project gathers speed
LATAM cargo operates flights to a total of 140 destinations, 32 of which were added by the carrier in 2018. Many of these destinations receive perishable goods such as fresh fish, flowers, fruits
and vegetables from South America and LATAM has invested heavily in the past couple of years in their PERISHABLE product in order to satisfy customer’s needs and ensure speedy and fresh delivery
to the many destinations that the airline serves.
Fresh salmon is one of the large perishable commodities which moves from South America to markets in the USA, Europe and the Far East. This product is complemented by large amounts of asparagus,
cherries, mangos and the suchlike. All of which have to be kept strictly temperature controlled before loading on the aircraft and along the route.
Of the 45% of perishable cargo flown by LATAM, 14 percent or 24,000 tons transit through Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport (GRU). Therefore, it is not surprising that the airline has decided to
upgrade cool facilities there.
New Perishable Hub ready in 2019
The construction of a new temperature-controlled facility at GRU has already started and the carrier states that it will be in service in time to serve customers in the upcoming peak period. Once
completed, the new cool facilities will give LATAM Cargo 33 percent more cold storage space at the airport.
A total of 17,620 square feet of operational space will be added, of which almost half will be dedicated to two large cooler areas. This will allow staff to re-palletise temperature sensitive
shipments within the two new coolers now being installed, thereby ensuring that fresh cargo remains that way throughout the entire journey. The two new cool areas can set temperatures at 32-36
degrees F (0°-2°C) and 36-55 degrees F (2°-13°C) respectively and also, when needed for specific perishable shipments which require a different temperature range, increase the temperature to 77
degrees F.
Andrés Bianchi, CEO LATAM Cargo commented: “Building a new cooler facility focused on connecting perishable traffic in our main hub enables us to boost our strategic position. We can now offer
our perishable customers a growing number of O-D pairs while maintaining the high-quality standards associated with our value proposition.”
John Mc Donagh
Write a comment