Damco offers cross-docking services in Ecuador
Damco now offers specialised cross-docking services for bananas in the free trade zone of Zona Pacifico in Guayaquil, the main commercial port of Ecuador. Featuring a cross-dock facility that is the first of its kind in Ecuador, both the exporters and the banana industry will benefit from this service, as banana boxes will be stuffed straight into the container without being discharged to the ground. This arrangement enables exporters to reduce the non-refrigerated time of the fruit, which results in prolonged shelf life and a significant improvement in product quality. Damco assumes full responsibility for the bananas from the time of their arrival, and offers an independent quality control even before the stuffing of the containers to ensure that only those that meet the right quality will be shipped. As soon as the containers are stuffed, Damco updates its IT system to provide customers with full visibility of the entire supply chain. Damco also offers other services like phytosanitary certificates, insurance, customs brokerage, payment of port expenses, installation and monitoring of temperature recorders, ethylene filters, trucking containers to farms and competitive ocean freight rates with multiple carriers. Banana containerisation in Ecuador has increased significantly, more than doubling from 50,000 forty-foot containers a year in 2006 to an expected 112,000 in 2010. But since the local infrastructure has not improved at the same pace, banana consolidation and cross-dock services were not performed in optimal logistics conditions. The free zone also offers off-dock services for reefer containers to major container lines. Containers will always be available next to the cross-dock operation to ensure that equipment will not run out if cross-docked volumes are higher than those forecast. Quelle: eyefortransport |
