MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys have partnered with sister company MSC, a world leader in container shipping, to use smart containers to ensure the freshest produce is loaded onto the lines’ ships after delivery from a warehouse.
Each smart container is equipped with internet-connected devices to collect data such as position, temperature and humidity, and is monitored remotely 24 hours a day from a centralized Customer Service Center in Antwerp, Belgium.
A problem in transit during the transport of goods by road or sea triggers an alert to the supplier, who can then resolve the problem en route to ensure that food products that depend on the exact environment for freshness can be delivered without the need to send a costly replacement.
Both MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys source the majority of their food locally – around 96% – but in the event that a product is not available locally, goods are brought to the ships from a number of warehouses around the world.
From its northern Italian warehouse in Genoa, MSC Cruises used smart containers last year and saw an improved level of quality assurance compared to 2022, when the line used traditional means of transporting food by road and sea.
The scale of the food delivery operation is considerable. Every year, MSC Cruises' fleet of 22 ships is supplied with 5,500 different items of food and beverage, including 32 million eggs, 6 million litres of milk, 170,000 oysters, 2 million tomatoes, 900,000 kg of apples and 800,000 kg of lemons.
Each of MSC Cruises' 22 ships carries an average of 22,500 kg of fresh fruit, 20,000 kg of fresh vegetables and 5,400 kg of fish during a 7-night voyage.
Paolo Raia, Managing Director of MSC Procurement & Logistics, said: “The use of smart containers has had a significant positive impact on food supply, especially in markets where it is a challenge to source and acquire all products locally. For example, for our ships in the Middle East, local production is limited and some products can take several weeks to travel from warehouse to ship.”
"Another great advantage of smart containers is that, in real time, we can constantly monitor the humidity and temperature of the transported products and change the parameters in transit, if necessary, to deliver with absolute confidence the freshest and finest food to our guests."