Coming hot on the heels of Maersk Line’s decision to invest in Carrier Transicold’s NaturaLINE container refrigeration system, Singapore-based Seaco Global Limited – one of the world’s leading shipping container leasing companies – has ordered 100 of the units.
“With a refrigerated fleet of 170,000 containers, Seaco monitors the new technology being developed to meet environmental legislation and supports all measures toward protection of the planet,” said Paul Merritt, chief operating officer for Singapore-based Seaco.
“Seaco’s first order of NaturaLINE units is an important strategic step with the new generation of refrigerant unit gases, and we are pleased with Carrier’s commitment to developing environmentally responsible solutions.”
The move is another demonstration of natural refrigerants’ penetration into maritime sector following a September decision by Maersk Line – the world’s largest shipping container company – to begin testing 100 refrigerated shipping containers fitted with the NaturaLINE system at the port of Santa Marta in Colombia.
“Carrier has long enjoyed a close working relationship with Seaco and we commend its leadership for the vision to enhance its offerings with a sustainable natural-refrigerant solution,” said David Appel, president, Carrier Transicold & Refrigeration Systems. “In addition to sustainability and energy efficiency, the NaturaLINE system also offers outstanding refrigeration performance.”
Seaco’s NaturaLINE units are currently being assembled at Carrier Transicold’s container refrigeration facility in Singapore and will be placed onto 40-foot high-cube boxes.
Yesterday (27 November), Carrier announced it had deepened the freezing range of the NaturaLINE unit to achieve and maintain temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius.
“The minus 40 Celsius capability can help shipping lines – especially those seeking environmentally responsible solutions – to provide enhanced offerings for customers who prefer colder frozen temperatures for maintaining quality attributes of some premium cargos, like ice cream, shrimp, sushi and other seafood over lengthy voyages,” said Jim Taeckens, senior product manager, Global Container Refrigeration, Carrier Transicold.
“Fleets that want to provide deep-frozen capacities using a system reliant on a refrigerant with a global warming potential (GWP) thousands of times lower than other alternatives will find an ideal solution with the efficient NaturaLINE system,” he added.
“Beyond the NaturaLINE unit’s use of a sustainable, natural refrigerant and its new deep-frozen attributes, it is a solid performer in other ways,” Taeckens continued. “It provides energy-efficient performance and especially excels in perishable, part-load conditions.”
“Additionally, it offers tight temperature control, owing to a variable-speed drive that electronically adjusts compressor speed to provide the precise cooling capacity as needed,” Taeckens said. “And, it is significantly quieter when operating in typical low-speed mode an attribute many of our customers have praised.”
The deep-frozen capability is immediately available with all newly purchased NaturaLINE units. Existing units in the field can take advantage of the enhanced performance range through a control software update.
“Carrier has long enjoyed a close working relationship with Seaco and we commend its leadership for the vision to enhance its offerings with a sustainable natural-refrigerant solution.”
David Appel, president, Carrier Transicold & Refrigeration Systems
About the NaturaLINE system
Carrier Transicold’s NaturaLINE system is the first container refrigeration system to use CO2.
CO2 has a GWP of just 1, making it the baseline against which traditional container unit refrigerants – with GWPs thousands of times higher – are compared.
It has already demonstrated that it is an environmentally sustainable alternative for overseas shipping of perishable goods. First made commercially available at Intermodal Europe 2013, the NaturaLINE system has logged tens of thousands of service hours in testing and hundreds of thousands of nautical miles for customers.
The system includes several innovations:
- Purpose-built, multi-stage compressor with variable speed drive to maximise capacity and minimise power consumption.
- Gas cooler with a wrap-around design and optimized heat transfer surfaces.
- Flash tank heat exchanger to maximise cooling performance.
Operational temperatures varied from set points ranging from -40 to 13 degrees Celsius on Atlantic and Pacific routes of a duration of 4-29 days.
Optimised to provide energy efficiency over a range of performance conditions, the NaturaLINE unit significantly reduces on-board power generation requirements, saving on fuel consumption and reducing operational costs.
