Refrigerated Containers – Reefers

21 February 2019

The seaborne trade of perishable commodities has only kept on growing since the first time a refrigerated cargo of 80 tons of mutton arrived in perfect condition to the port of Le Havre, France in the year 1878. The refrigerated steamer PARAGUAY ‘s successful voyage from Buenos Aires to Le Havre, was to signal the beginning of the seaborne reefer business.

The first time Maersk ventured into the reefer trade was in the mid-1930s, when A.P. Møller wanted to expand his shipping business with specialised reefer vessels. Two initiatives were taken to add to the tramp, tanker, and liner activities:

A 5-year charter party was signed for the transportation of bananas from Cameroun to France, and in 1936 the first reefer vessel joined the Maersk fleet. Unfortunate timing meant that FRANCINE was only used once in the trade and attempts to use the vessel in other fruit trades proved to be unprofitable.

To tackle the winter weather impact on the smaller tramp vessels, attempts were made to deploy them in the Mediterranean from early November to mid-April. In 1934, a few steam ships had fans and ventilators installed to improve conditions for the cargoes of oranges and grapefruits. This never evolved into a regular liner service, but in 1937 GUDRUN MÆRSK and ROBERT MÆRSK joined the reefer fleet with specially ventilated cargo holds. This activity stopped with the outbreak of the Second World War and it would be more than 20 years before another attempt was made at the reefer trade.

932 Peter Mærsk Odense nr 45 — Some of the first cargo liners built specifically for the newly established Line in 1928, were fitted with refrigerated cargo holds. Pictured here is PETER MÆRSK built in 1932.

The second attempt came in 1961 with the new-build specialised reefer DRAGØR MÆRSK and a little later the sister ships THURØ MÆRSK and MAGLEBY MÆRSK delivered in 1964. But again, it turned out to be very difficult for Maersk to compete in the reefer trade with only a few ships and with lack of experience and customer contacts. It was therefore decided to charter the reefer ships to the Swedish shipping company Salén who was a leading operator in the field at the time.

Francine 1936 A tif — FRANCINE, the first specialised reefer vessel acquired by the company. Built at Odense Steel Shipyard with a refrigerated cargo capacity of around 175,000 cubic feet. Delivered in 1936, but sold again to Danish shipping company J.Lauritzen the following year.

It was in the transportation of reefer containers that Maersk would finally make an impact -
In 1975, Maersk placed an order for 500 reefer containers, a record order at the time, signifying Maersk’s entry into the containerised reefer trade as well as the dry container trade. The A-class ships designed specifically for the containerisation of the USA-ASIA service in 1975, were fitted with only ten reefer plugs as predictions showed they would only be used 20 per cent of the time.

Maersk’s reefer container capacity continued to grow organically through the 1970s and 1980s and by 1986, an average of 160 reefer plugs were available on Maersk’s 28 container vessels – equivalent to approximately 5 per cent of world reefer capacity at the time.

Magleby 1964 04. — Vertical conveyor belt lifting a shipment of bananas out of the cargo holds on MAGLEBY MÆRSK and directly onto the nearby train.

In 1989, Maersk’s reefer management team was formed, signifying that the reefer business had truly become a focus area for Maersk and within a couple of years, mid-1990s, Maersk had the single largest reefer container fleet in the business.

The 1990s are also characterised by the company’s many major acquisitions including the EAC-Ben Line in 1993, Safmarine and Sea-Land in 1999, with the latter being especially renowned for its reefer service. Sea-Land introduced the first generation of reefer containers in the 1960s and operated integral reefers from the early 1970s.

02 NEW-45 SG — Early generation of reefer containers ca. 1960-65. Current market indications show that con-tainership fleets will continue to grow while specialised reefer vessels will decline.

Since the 1990s, Maersk’s reefer container fleet has continued to grow, not least with the acquisition of P&O Nedlloyd in 2005 and the recent integration of Hamburg Süd. Today, a quarter of the worlds reefer containers are moved on our network today.

At Marine Ops bldg — Sea-Land reefer ca. late 1960s or early 1970s. First generation of reefers, where the cooling unit is fitted inside the frame.

The technology behind refrigerated transportation has been developed and refined ever since the first successful refrigerated voyage took place in 1878. But the latest innovation, developed by Maersk, is the introduction of the Remote Container Management system (RCM), providing our customers with end-to-end transparency and the ability to monitor temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, while also being able to keep track of the containers location.

Maersk IF side view 2 — Fresh off the production line – a brand new reefer container from Maersk Container Industry fitted with a StarCool unit.

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