Hamburg, Germany-based container line Hapag-Lloyd recently announced new reefer bookings of 11,100 units and awarded Maersk Container Industry (MCI) an order for 8,600 units, of which 2,000 will be Controlled Atmosphere (CA) reefers. The company has begun production of the 8,600 Star Cool Integrated reefers at its Qingdao site in China.
All 8,600 reefers are ready to switch over to R513A, a low Global Warming Potential (GWP) R513A refrigerant blend introduced to Hapag-Lloyd in 2017 in 1,000 Star Cool units. This alternative refrigerant offers a 56% GWP reduction.
Hapag-Lloyd’s experience with the environmentally friendly refrigerants has been “eventless” and without any obstacles so far. Use of the R513A refrigerant with Star Cool addresses the environmental protection legislation for technology platforms introduced under the European Union’s F-gas regulations.
“It is reassuring to know that we have the ability to fully convert a large part of our reefer fleet to a lower-GWP refrigerant solution, without having to make any modifications to the machines or compromise on performance,” said Niklas Ohling, senior director at Hapag-Lloyd.
“We deeply value the trust shown in us by Hapag-Lloyd, which is founded on 18 years of experience in supplying reefer containers to them,” said Søren Leth Johannsen, chief commercial officer at MCI. “This close cooperation led Hapag-Lloyd to order their first batch of Star Cool units in 2012; since then the proportion of these cutting-edge reefers in the Hapag-Lloyd fleet has steadily grown over the years. The 8,600-reefer order from Hapag-Lloyd obviously marks a further milestone for MCI and Star Cool.”
All Star Cool units produced since July 2017 provide operators with total freedom to decide whether it makes economic sense to charge with R513A or R134a, without restriction. All Star Cool units produced before July 2017 can also be adapted to run on R513A with only minor modifications.
The successful launch of Hapag-Lloyd’s ExtraFresh and ExtraFresh Plus services has led to further expansion of the CA technology for 2,000 Star Cool Integrated containers. This brings the total number of Star Cool CA systems to 5,000 machines within Hapag-Lloyd’s ExtraFresh fleet.
The energy efficiency of Star Cool can now be proved in real time thanks to the built-in energy meter.
“Our aim is to cut Hapag-Lloyd’s total carbon footprint by a further 20% by 2020 and efficient reefer containers will play a significant role in achieving this goal,” said Ohling.
