Shanghai’s new perishables centre to open in July

Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminal (PACTL) says its new perishable centre is nearing completion and should go into operation in July 2015, once it has gained IATA certification.
The 3,500 sq m site will include a deep freeze area (-18 degrees Celsius), several cool storage facilities (+4 to +8 degrees Celsius) and an ambient temperature storage zone (+15 to +25 degrees Celsius).
It also provides an acceptance area with separate X-ray machines and a build-up zone, a 1,500 sq m handling area for quick break-downs and a specially designated delivery sector. PACTL has the option of extending the facility by a 550 sq m of storage space.
It is also considering investing in 10 ft lower-deck refrigerated dollies and making them available to the ramp handlers so that they can use them to transport items between the apron stands and the warehouse and be able to store perishables at the apron stands.
PACTL vice-president Lutz Grzegorz said:  “As most of our airline clients are offering and further developing sophisticated perishable and pharmaceutical services, we expect the recent growth in our perishable and pharmaceutical business to continue.
Manager of PACTL’s strategic business development department, Markus Knickmann, added: “It’s our job to support the efforts of our customers by providing state-of-the-art infrastructure as the basis for competitive products; this will allow them to gain a better position in the relevant markets.”
The IT system will provide forecasts to the staff in charge of capacity management and will feature appropriate status updates and location information, in addition to business intelligence data.
PACTL is a Sino-German joint venture between Shanghai Airport (Group), Lufthansa Cargo and JHJ Logistics Management.