Another link in the chain( Part 2)

By the late 1860s, beef carcases were being shipped between the local American ports in a salt-ice mixture, with limited success. The first attempt to ship refrigerated meat came in 1877. Unfortunately, the refrigeration equipment broke down and the entire shipment was lost.

However, the first economically viable shipment of product was the sailing of the clipper Dunedin, from New Zealand to the

By Patrick Burke of RPM Engineering

Now that the shipment of export-quality oranges is well on their way to the United Kingdom, let’ s go back further in time, when the very first attempts to transport perishables were introduced.

United Kingdom, where 4 300 mutton, 600 lamb and 22 pig carcases, 250 kegs of butter, some hares, pheasant, chickens, turkeys, and 2 000 sheep tongues were offloaded, making the shipping company a reasonable profit for the journey.

By the way, the Dunedin’ s refrigeration plant was a Bell-Coleman compression machine. Steam powered, it compressed air, releasing the air onto the hold of the ship. As it expanded, the air became

colder, cooling the cargo. This process had the ability to chill the hold to 22 ° C below the surrounding air temperature, which meant it could freeze the product when sailing through the temperate seas of Southern New Zealand.

It would then simply maintain the hold below freezing for the remainder of the voyage through the tropics.

Following this successful venture, from 1900, the refrigerated shipping industry

1 2

expanded rapidly and soon shipments of frozen beef and mutton between Australia, New Zealand and Argentina, the United Kingdom and Europe, became a common occurrence.

Around the late 1800s, the shipping of fruit commenced, mainly bananas at first. Now all types of perishable products are transported throughout the world, by a fleet of over 30 000 registered merchant ships.

Let us go back on-board a Castle or a Union ship. The year is 1890 and both companies are struggling to find suitable return cargo. Gold and diamond bullion make up the bulk of goods shipped back to the United Kingdom. High in value but of small volume, the ships are returning in ballast, apart from a few returning

Wikipedia

Henry Aitken

1. Clipper Dunedin, the first successful refrigerant ship( 1882).

2. A 1960s reefer leaving Cape Town harbour.

Continued on page 31

COLD LINK AFRICA • July / August 2018 www. coldlinkafrica. co. za

Cold Link Africa July/August 2018 | Page 29

Another link in the chain( Part 2)

By the late 1860s, beef carcases were being shipped between the local American ports in a salt-ice mixture, with limited success. The first attempt to ship refrigerated meat came in 1877. Unfortunately, the refrigeration equipment broke down and the entire shipment was lost.

Now that the shipment of export-quality oranges is well on their way to the United Kingdom, let’ s go back further in time, when the very first attempts to transport perishables were introduced.

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