ISHS Acta Horticulturae 269: Symposium on Tropical Fruit in International Trade
TRANSPORT OF TROPICAL COMMODITIES |
| Author: | M. Joseph Ahrens |
| Abstract:
In many export markets, the transport of the product accounts for over half of the retail price. The inability to transport tropical commodities is in many instances the major restriction to marketing these items. All forms of transportation methods are used. However, the unavailability or cost of appropriate transportation often proves insurmountable. Many tropical crops are particularly subject to problems in transport due to their high respiration, rapid deterioration, and susceptibility to chilling injury. Air freight is expensive and often not available during seasons when supplies are high. Shipment by sea requires lengthy transit times. Temperatures low enough to delay senescence can injure the commodity. Furthermore, in mixed-load shipping, tropicals may be incompatible with the balance of the load due to differing atmosphere requirements of the different commodities. New and revitalized techniques such as modified and controlled atmospheres combined with plastic films may aid in overcoming these problems. Plastic films, either package over-wraps or individually wrapped fruit, have shown promise in alleviating chilling injury. This allows shipment of chilling sensitive commodities with those that must be shipped at chilling temperatures. Alternately, modified atmospheres may allow shipment of normally chilled commodities at higher than chilling temperatures. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
