Cold chain design, phytosanitary treatment scheduling, destination market access and time control for perishable cargo.
Three variables decide a perishable export: whether the temperature holds all the way through, whether the phytosanitary treatment can be completed inside the voyage, and whether the destination market's access list covers this commodity from this origin. Fruit and vegetables keep respiring, generating heat and releasing ethylene after harvest, so a reefer container maintains a temperature rather than pulling a warm load down, and whether pre-cooling was done properly determines whether the rest of the chain means anything. Treatments such as cold treatment consume voyage time, and a single gap in the temperature record can hold the whole consignment at the port of entry. The three constrain each other, and anything not settled before stuffing cannot be recovered later.
Cold chain design, phytosanitary treatment scheduling, destination market access and time control for perishable cargo
Perishable operations at a port: reefer container refrigeration units connecting with a pre-cooling warehouse for loading. A reefer container is designed to hold its set point, so the cargo has to be brought down to the target temperature in a shore-side cold store before it is stuffed.
Perishables are not a single category, and the first difference in export planning comes from whether the cargo is still respiring in transit. Fruit, vegetables and cut flowers are living organisms after harvest, continuing to give off respiratory heat and producing carbon dioxide and ethylene, and they need fresh air exchange to carry the heat and the gases away. Fish and frozen meat stop respiring once freezing is complete, and what they need is a stable low temperature and thermal isolation, so ventilation becomes a liability. That one difference means the same reefer container is set up in completely different ways for the two groups.
| Category | Typical HS Headings | Regulatory Basis | Temperature and Timing Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh fruit (citrus, apples, grapes, pears, kiwifruit, lychee) | 0805, 0806, 0808, 0809, 0810 | Inspection and quarantine of fresh fruit for export, with orchard and packing house registration; shipments to the United States and similar markets also require cold treatment | Stuff after pre-cooling, with carriage usually at 0 to 4 °C; tropical categories take a higher set point; cold treatment consumes voyage time |
| Fresh vegetables (garlic, ginger, onions, broccoli, edible fungi, fresh beans) | 0703, 0704, 0709, 0712, 0910 | Filing of growing sites for export food raw materials and filing of export food production enterprises; separate filing applies to supply to Hong Kong and Macao, China | Leaf vegetables need higher humidity to limit moisture loss; roots and tubers travel better; shelf life shortens quickly once the chain breaks |
| Cut flowers and cut foliage (roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, baby's breath, eucalyptus) | 0603, 0604 | Registration of enterprises producing and trading export seedlings and flowers; species listed in the CITES appendices require an import and export permit | Finished product stored at 4 to 6 °C; wrapped in paper, with no live insects or soil in the carton |
| Chilled seafood (chilled fish, shrimp, shellfish) | 0302, 0306, 0307 | Inspection and quarantine of aquatic products for export; registration where the importing country requires it | 0 to 4 °C, with insulated boxes and ice or gel packs; voyages are usually short, so air freight and short sea services predominate |
| Frozen seafood and frozen meat products | 0202, 0203, 0303, 0306, 0307 | Filing of export food production enterprises; processing plants shipping to the European Union and similar markets need registration in the counterpart system | Minus 18 °C or lower with no interruption to power; no ventilation needed, and the cargo is stowed as a solid block with no gaps |
| Live aquatic animals (live fish, live crab, live shellfish) | 0301, 0306, 0307 | Registration of growing sites and transit sites for export aquatic animals, with a certificate valid for 5 years | Carriage in live water or with oxygenation, measured in hours throughout; highly sensitive to connection times and to flight punctuality |
| Fresh eggs and dairy products | 0401, 0407 | Filing of export food production enterprises; dairy products carry separate overseas registration requirements | Dairy at 0 to 4 °C with no break in the chain; shell eggs cannot take sharp temperature swings or condensation |
Regulatory scope shifts as category boundaries change. The revised Measures for the Supervision of Inspection and Quarantine of Fruit for Export apply from 1 November 2026 and delete frozen fruit from the former Article 2, so the measure now covers only fresh fruit, and frozen fruit is handled under other rules. The same commodity also faces different access conditions in different markets, so confirm the destination list before production rather than following last shipment's experience.
Chilled carriage is for cargo that is still respiring, with the set point above freezing and the aim of slowing metabolism without causing chilling injury. Most temperate fruit and leaf vegetables fall at 0 to 4 °C, which is where citrus and apples sit. Tropical fruit such as bananas, mangoes and papayas is sensitive to low temperature and is usually set at 12 to 14 °C, because below that band the skin browns and flavour is lost, irreversibly by the time the cargo arrives.
Frozen carriage is for seafood, meat and some fruit and vegetable products that have already been frozen, with a set point of minus 18 °C or lower, and high-fat products such as ice cream need lower still. This cargo no longer respires, so ventilation openings must be closed and the load stowed as a solid block with no gaps, letting air pass over the top of the cargo to carry away heat entering from outside. Leaving channels actually creates local hot spots. The container has to be powered throughout, including at connections between vessels and on the inland leg, where transport relies on clip-on generator sets.
Controlled atmosphere actively adjusts the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations inside the container on top of temperature control, reducing respiration and extending post-harvest life to two or three times that of conventional chilled carriage. Climacteric fruit such as apples, pears, kiwifruit and avocados benefits most, and the value is greatest on long voyages. Controlled atmosphere is not available from every carrier and on every route, so it has to be requested separately at booking and equipment availability confirmed; CA containers demand tight sealing, and both the closing time and any power interruption during stuffing have to be minimised.
Chilled seafood uses insulated boxes with ice or gel packs to hold 0 to 4 °C, with transit usually kept to a few days, because beyond that the quality has already fallen even if the temperature holds. Live aquatic animals take a different route, carried in live tanks or with humidity and oxygenation, measured in hours throughout, with very little tolerance for connection times, flight punctuality or the speed of inspection at the destination.
| Temperature Band | Typical Set Point | Typical Cargo | Ventilation and Humidity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chilled | 0 to 4 °C | Citrus, apples, pears, grapes, leaf vegetables, fresh fish, dairy | Fresh air exchange required to discharge carbon dioxide and ethylene |
| Chilled, tropical | 12 to 14 °C | Bananas, mangoes, papayas, dragon fruit | Ventilation required, chilling injury to be avoided |
| Cut flower storage | 4 to 6 °C | Roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, baby's breath, cut foliage | No compression and no moisture loss; stored separately after wrapping in paper |
| Frozen | Minus 18 °C or lower | Frozen fish, frozen shrimp, frozen meat, ice cream | Ventilation closed, stowed as a solid block with no gaps |
| Deep frozen | Below minus 25 °C | Deep-frozen tuna and similar high-value seafood | Requires a deep-freeze unit, and container availability is limited |
| Controlled atmosphere | Cargo dependent, mostly 0 to 14 °C | Climacteric fruit such as apples, pears, kiwifruit and avocados | Actively adjusts oxygen and carbon dioxide; requires dedicated equipment |
Lower is not automatically better. Chilled cargo below its tolerance limit suffers chilling injury, showing as pitting, browning and loss of flavour, damage that is invisible in transit and only appears in bulk on arrival. The set point should follow the commodity standard in the destination market, not a lower figure carried over from storage practice.
Registration certificates and inspection and quarantine certificates are two different levels of the process. An expired certificate means the cargo cannot complete inspection at origin at all, regardless of the sailing schedule. The renewal window has been tightened to 30 days before expiry, so planning on the former three-month basis will miss it outright.
Where a bilateral agreement or protocol expressly provides for it, or where the regulations of the importing country require registration of orchards and packing houses, customs registers export fruit orchards and packing houses shipping to that market against that market's requirements. The new measures reduce the orchard conditions to four: contiguous planting with no pollution source nearby that affects fruit production, deployment of technical personnel, an established quality management system, and no major plant disease outbreak in the previous two years. The former standalone minimum contiguous planting area is no longer a separate condition. Conditions for packing houses cover site hygiene, separation of functional areas, washing and processing and pest control facilities, process water and agricultural chemicals, and a hygiene quality management system, with a fruit source orchard or fixed supply relationship matched to processing capacity.
Perishable exports are declared to the customs office where the producing or processing enterprise is located, and customs carries out local inspection under its targeting instructions. A local inspection green channel exists for fresh, live and perishable agricultural food products, covering live animals for export, chilled meat products and seafood for export, and vegetables and fruit moving in and out of the country, with priority and booked inspections. Some customs districts are running batch inspection reform that separates the inspection and quarantine lot from the declaration lot: the first consignment of a batch inspection unit receives on-site inspection and quarantine with a conformity assessment, and later consignments hit by an on-site inspection instruction undergo document verification only, which visibly shortens waiting time for categories with a concentrated season and frequent shipments.
Where inspection and quarantine are passed, or where effective treatment is applied and re-inspection is passed, customs issues the phytosanitary certificate, animal health certificate and other documents to the requirements of the importing country. Where there is no effective treatment method, or treatment still fails, a notice of non-conformity is issued and export is not permitted. For markets such as the United States that require cold treatment, the treatment has to be recorded in the treatment section of the phytosanitary certificate; cargo whose treatment is incomplete or failed cannot enter normally and can only be handled at a port equipped to carry out the treatment.
The rules on the import side have been adjusted in step, adding a requirement that imported fruit enter through ports meeting customs supervision conditions, and that fruit arriving via Hong Kong, China or Macao, China be carried in containers and enter as the original container, original packaging and original phytosanitary certificate. The adjustment tightens qualification, deadlines and port conditions at the same time, and a compliance self-check before the season costs less than dealing with it when the cargo is ready.
A reefer booking cannot be placed with a temperature alone. The carrier needs a set of parameters: commodity name and code, set point, ventilation opening, humidity requirement, whether controlled atmosphere equipment is needed, whether any leg requires a clip-on generator set, and the pre-cooled temperature of the cargo at loading. The parameters are fixed at booking and written onto the documents, and later changes require the carrier to confirm again. A reefer container loses usable space to insulation, the evaporator and the floor air ducts, so its internal dimensions are smaller than a dry container; stuffing plans have to be drawn on the internal dimensions the container source provides, and a plan based on dry container capacity will not fit at loading.
The pre-trip inspection is a mechanical and functional test of the reefer unit before the container is handed over for loading, checking the compressor, evaporator, condenser, controller and temperature sensors, with the result recorded in a pre-trip inspection certificate. The consignee has the right to ask for that certificate. Its value is most direct in a cargo damage claim, because it is the carrier's key evidence that reasonable care was exercised, and without a pre-trip record the responsibility for a temperature failure easily becomes a dispute. Before stuffing, check whether the container has already been pre-cooled to the set point, since a container that has not reached it cannot be loaded directly.
Cold treatment is a phytosanitary treatment: the pulp temperature is held below a specified point for a specified number of days to kill the eggs and larvae of fruit flies. For fresh citrus shipped to the United States, for example, the schedule is 33 °F, which is 0.56 °C, or below for 18 days; 34 °F, which is 1.11 °C, or below for 20 days; or 35 °F, which is 1.67 °C, or below for 22 days. The temperature record is tightly constrained: the recording interval may not exceed 1 hour, and the difference between two consecutive hourly readings may not exceed 0.39 °C, beyond which the treatment fails. A container used as the treatment chamber needs at least 3 temperature probes and a ship's hold needs at least 4, and the treatment clock starts when every probe has reached the specified temperature, not at the time of stuffing. Only one commodity in one type of packaging may be placed in a single treatment chamber, container doors are sealed with numbered seals that only authorised personnel of the destination country may break at the destination port, and the cargo may not be discharged before treatment is complete. Review and approval of the treatment record form part of clearance, and a single live regulated pest found in a cut sample means the whole lot is held for investigation.
Respiring cargo needs its ventilation opening open, using fresh air to carry off carbon dioxide and ethylene and replenish oxygen, with the opening set to the respiration rate and tolerance of the commodity. Carton ventilation holes have to line up and the stow has to let air pass through the whole consignment, with any material blocking airflow removed. The evaporator draws moisture out of the air as it cools, so leaf vegetables and cut flowers that lose moisture readily need a target humidity range. Frozen cargo is the opposite: the ventilation opening must be closed, because outside moisture entering the container will frost on the evaporator and the cargo surface, causing freezer burn and damp packaging.
Air freight has a clear time advantage for perishables but involves more handling steps and a higher unit cost, so it suits high-value categories with short shelf life such as berries, cut flowers, chilled seafood and live aquatic animals. Documentation, packaging and temperature control requirements for air freight are not identical to sea freight, and sea freight paperwork cannot simply be reused. Rail reefer services are established on the China-Europe and Central Asia routes, where continuous power supply and shore power connections along the way are the critical points. Transit is shorter than sea and longer than air, which suits fruit and vegetable orders that need some time protection but are more cost sensitive.
| Mode | Typical Cargo | Transit Order | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reefer container by sea | Citrus, apples, pears, grapes, onions, garlic, frozen products | Route dependent, usually weeks | Suitable where volume is sufficient and shelf life covers the voyage; cold treatment can be completed in transit |
| Controlled atmosphere by sea | Apples, pears, kiwifruit, avocados | Route dependent, usually weeks | Value is greatest on long voyages, and equipment availability has to be confirmed in advance |
| Reefer groupage | Not applicable | Not applicable | Multiple shippers sharing one container cannot have temperature and ventilation set independently, and the stripping sequence is not controlled by a single shipper |
| Air freight | Berries, cut flowers, chilled seafood, live aquatic animals | Flight dependent, usually within days | High value, short shelf life, urgent orders; high unit cost and space has to be locked in early |
| Rail reefer | Fruit, vegetables, some frozen products | Between sea and air | Established products on China-Europe and Central Asia routes, with continuous power supply to be confirmed |
Choice is rarely driven by freight rate alone. For markets that require cold treatment in transit, sea freight is almost the only workable mode, because the treatment itself takes place during the voyage. Cut flowers and berries have shelf life too short to accept sea freight, so air freight is the only option even at several times the cost. Conversely, shipping citrus or apples with ample shelf life by air means the freight eats the entire margin on the order.
The route for a perishable export is usually set by the production area and the nearest port, and the time from farm to port is itself part of the cold chain. If that link does not connect, no amount of good container supply later makes up for it.
The pairing of production area and port is also affected by destination market access. Fruit shipped to the United States has to come from registered orchards and packing houses and enter through a port equipped for cold treatment, so the port of departure is determined backwards along that chain rather than by booking a vessel first and looking for the qualification afterwards.
Fruit follows the phytosanitary requirements of the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and most citrus shipped to the United States has to complete cold treatment in transit, in line with the US federal regulations on phytosanitary treatments, and recorded in the treatment section of the phytosanitary certificate. Pre-export inspection samples a fixed number of fruit per lot for visual examination, and any regulated pest found means the consignment may not be shipped to the United States. Packed fruit for the United States has to be stored separately from cargo for other markets, and cartons must show the registered orchard and packing house details in English. Cargo whose cold treatment is incomplete or failed can only be handled at a port equipped to treat it. Food products must also meet US Food and Drug Administration import requirements, and food imported by sea has to have prior notice submitted within the prescribed time before arrival.
EU phytosanitary requirements for fruit and vegetables are set out by category in the regulations, with high-risk categories required to come from registered production sites and to carry a phytosanitary certificate. The official controls regulation for plant and animal products sets out specific arrangements for points of entry and inspection rates, and seafood and animal products also require the overseas production plant to be registered with the European Union. Labelling and pesticide residue limits follow EU regulations, and excessive residue is a frequent reason for rejecting perishable cargo.
Access for fruit in both countries rests on bilateral quarantine agreements, so the commodity and the origin have to be within the agreed scope, and some categories require cold treatment or fumigation, with prescribed formats for treatment records and packaging marks. Japan and Korea test for a large number of pesticide residues, and checking the treatment regime against the target market before the season is more effective than fixing it after shipment. The access list and quarantine requirements for live aquatic animals are published item by item by the counterpart authority, so the species should be checked against the latest list before export.
Southeast Asia has short voyages and is a direction where perishable exports are growing quickly, but quarantine requirements for fruit and vegetables differ widely between countries, with some requiring a phytosanitary certificate and certificate of origin and others applying additional import permits. The Middle East has steady demand for temperate fruit and vegetables, and the longer voyage means the availability of controlled atmosphere and cold treatment equipment has to be confirmed in advance.
| Market | Key Requirements | Common Sticking Points |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Cold treatment and temperature records, registered orchards and packing houses, treatment section on the phytosanitary certificate, food prior notice | Gaps in the temperature record or too few probes, causing the treatment to fail |
| European Union | Phytosanitary certificate, overseas production plant registration, pesticide residue limits | Residues not checked against the target market standard, failing inspection on entry |
| Japan and Korea | Commodity and origin within the bilateral agreed scope, treatment requirements, packaging mark format | Commodity outside the access list, or a treatment record in the wrong format |
| Southeast Asia | Phytosanitary certificate, import permit in some countries | Requirements differ by country and single-market experience is copied across |
| Middle East | Phytosanitary certificate, availability of cold chain equipment | Long voyage with inadequate equipment preparation, so quality falls on arrival |
The purchasing risk with perishables is different from industrial goods: there is no rework. Quality falling on arrival, treatment failing and cargo being held, or residue exceeding the limit and goods being rejected can only be corrected in the next season, so when selecting a supplier, whether the process is closed-loop matters more than the price of a single lot.
A consignment of fresh citrus from Jiangxi went to the US west coast using in-transit cold treatment, with the pulp temperature held at 0.56 °C or below for a full 18 days. The treatment record for the first shipment contained a gap of more than 1 hour and the treatment was judged to have failed on arrival, so the cargo was held at the port of entry pending handling. Three things were changed afterwards: the temperature recording equipment was switched to a type with continuous recording and calibration records and fitted with protective measures against data alteration; probes were installed to the number required for the type of treatment chamber and the pulp temperature readings verified before stuffing; and the treatment start time was standardised to the moment all probes reached the specified temperature rather than the stuffing time. Later shipments passed review of their records and cleared smoothly, and the process has been fixed since.
A consignment of Red Fuji from Shandong went to Southeast Asia on a voyage of about two weeks, with the customer setting a clear requirement for shelf life after arrival. Conventional chilled carriage holds the temperature, but the apples' respiration continues to consume quality over a long voyage. Switching to a controlled atmosphere container lowered the oxygen concentration inside and reduced respiration, and firmness and flavour after arrival were visibly better than the previous season. The booking stage confirmed whether the route supported CA equipment, and the power-off and door-opening time during stuffing was minimised; after sampling at the destination the customer fixed the follow-on orders to the CA option.
A consignment of roses and baby's breath from Yunnan went to Japan by air. After harvest the flowers were pre-cooled to remove field heat, wrapped in paper at the processing stage, and the finished product was stored at 4 to 6 °C with records kept, held separately from other flowers and labelled with harvest and processing times. Local inspection was completed before shipment and the phytosanitary certificate obtained, air cargo space was worked back from the flight schedule, and the time from finishing processing to loading was held under one day. Flower quality on arrival was good and the customer extended the range from roses to cut foliage.
A consignment of lychee from Guangdong was exported to Europe, with a concentrated harvest and extremely short shelf life. Pre-cooling was moved forward to the production area, with the fruit put into a cold store after harvest to bring the core temperature down before grading and packing, gel packs added inside the cartons, and the whole sequence of leaving the store, arriving at the airport, clearing customs and loading scheduled by the hour. The flight connection allowed a buffer but not an overnight stay, avoiding a temperature rise while waiting at the airport. The consignment went from harvest to arrival at the destination port within a few days, and colour and texture on arrival met the customer's requirement.
A consignment of chilled large yellow croaker from Fujian went to Korea using insulated boxes with ice and gel packs to hold 0 to 4 °C, on a short voyage with the whole trip kept to a few days. Inspection and quarantine for export aquatic products were completed before shipment and the certificate issued, and traceability codes were applied to the boxes for checking at the destination. In peak season the customer added air freight to cover short-term gaps, running the two channels in parallel.
A consignment of live hairy crabs from Jiangsu was exported to Southeast Asia, packed with humidity control and oxygenation and carried in hours throughout. Inspection and quarantine for export aquatic animals were completed before shipment and an animal health certificate obtained, and priority inspection was booked at the airport to shorten ground waiting time. One flight change lengthened the connection and increased live losses, after which the choice of flights was narrowed to services with better punctuality rather than being scheduled on price alone.
Can perishable cargo move as groupage?
It is not suitable. In reefer groupage several shippers' cargo shares one unit, so temperature and ventilation can only be set for the whole container and cannot be given different values for different commodities; the stripping sequence is also not controlled by a single shipper, and cargo that should come out first can be held up by clearance delays on other cargo in the container. Perishables are normally shipped in full containers, and where volume is insufficient, insulated boxes with gel packs by air are more controllable than forcing a groupage booking.
Does the shipper or the carrier set the reefer temperature?
The shipper proposes it to the requirements of the commodity, it is written into the booking instruction and the carrier sets it in the container control system. The carrier will check whether the parameters are within the capability of its equipment, but will not decide the temperature for the shipper. Once the set point is written onto the documents, changing it in transit requires fresh confirmation, so confirming parameters before booking is easier than adjusting after sailing. The set point should be based on the commodity standard in the destination market, not copied from storage practice.
Is the pre-trip inspection mandatory?
Every reefer container is pre-trip inspected before it is handed over for loading, which is standard carrier procedure. What the shipper has to do is ask for the pre-trip inspection certificate and check before stuffing that the internal temperature has come down to the set point. The certificate matters most in a cargo damage claim, because it records the functional state of the unit before loading and the pre-cooled temperature reached, which draws a clear boundary of responsibility. Without that record, the cause of a temperature failure tends to become a matter of assertion on both sides.
Does cold treatment always have to be done in transit?
It depends on the destination country's rules and on the facilities it approves. For citrus shipped to the United States, for example, the current requirement is to follow the operational procedure for cold treatment during export transport and to record it in the treatment section of the phytosanitary certificate; where the counterpart regulations allow treatment at origin, it can also be completed in China before export. Whether treatment happens in transit directly determines the choice of transport mode, because holding the specified temperature and recording it continuously means such cargo can essentially only move in full containers by sea.
Can a reefer container carry frozen cargo?
Yes, with the set point at minus 18 °C or lower. But chilled and frozen cargo are operated differently: frozen cargo no longer respires, so the ventilation opening must be closed and the load is stowed as a solid block with no gaps, letting air pass over the top; chilled cargo needs the opening open with air channels left in the stow. The same container is used in opposite ways for the two, so frozen cargo cannot be loaded to the habits of chilled cargo. Deep-frozen tuna and similar products need a dedicated deep-freeze unit, and container availability is tighter than for standard reefers.
Does a controlled atmosphere container need a separate request?
Yes, and it has to be raised at the booking stage. CA equipment is not fitted by every carrier and on every route, and some routes offer it only on specific sailings, so a late request usually cannot be met. A CA container demands tight sealing, and the number and duration of door openings after stuffing have to be minimised, because if the container is opened for inspection en route the controlled atmosphere is destroyed. Whether CA is worth it depends on the length of the voyage and the value of the commodity, and the benefit is clearest for climacteric fruit on long voyages.
What equipment is used for temperature recording?
There are three common types: the paper chart recorder built into the container, a single-use electronic recorder placed with the cargo, and a reusable wireless recorder. Destination countries set format and continuity requirements for phytosanitary temperature records, and cold treatment for the United States requires a recording interval of no more than 1 hour, with a device that has tamper protection and can export charts for verification on request. Keeping a cargo-mounted record independent of the container unit provides a second data source in a dispute.
How is the ventilation opening set?
It is set to the respiration rate of the commodity and its tolerance of carbon dioxide and ethylene. Commodities with vigorous respiration need a larger air exchange, while those with high tolerance can be set smaller to maintain the internal atmosphere. The opening is written into the booking instruction and set with the container. Frozen and non-respiring cargo must have the opening closed, because an open vent brings outside moisture into the container and frosts on the evaporator and the cargo surface, causing freezer burn and damp packaging.
Does a reefer container lose temperature while waiting for a berth in the port area?
As long as the container is connected to power, it does not. The risk lies in the windows when power is off: after discharge and landing before it is plugged in, on the inland leg without a clip-on generator set, or during a destination inspection when it is unplugged. Those windows may be only a few hours each, but for a commodity with a small temperature margin that is enough to cause damage. Writing the plug-in connection into the operating requirements and confirming the collection schedule at the destination is more effective than tracing it afterwards.
What qualification do the orchard and packing house need for exported fruit, and how long is the certificate valid?
Where a bilateral agreement or importing country regulation requires registration, the orchard and packing house have to be registered with customs. Orchard conditions include contiguous planting with no pollution source nearby that affects fruit production, deployment of technical personnel, an established quality management system and no major plant disease outbreak in the previous two years; packing house conditions cover site hygiene, separation of functional areas, washing and processing and pest control facilities, process water and agricultural chemicals, and a hygiene quality management system. The registration certificate is valid for 5 years, and where renewal is needed, an application has to be made to the local customs office at least 30 days before expiry.
Do the export fruit inspection and quarantine measures apply to frozen fruit?
They do not. The revised measures apply from 1 November 2026 and delete frozen fruit from the original text, returning the scope to fresh fruit. Frozen fruit exports are handled under other rules, and the specific basis depends on the commodity and the destination requirements. This change affects the direction of document preparation at declaration, and preparing material under the old measures needs to be adjusted.
How should the timing be planned for perishable air freight?
Work back from the arrival time at the destination. The steps are harvest and pre-cooling at origin, processing and packing, local inspection and certification, ground transport, declaration, loading, flight connection and collection at the destination, and each leg needs its realistic time rather than its theoretical time. For a commodity whose shelf life is counted in days, waiting time at the airport before loading is often the most overlooked segment; it is better to choose an airport with more frequent flights even if it is further from the warehouse than to let the cargo sit overnight at the airport.
How should perishable cargo be insured?
Ordinary cargo transport insurance covers perishables to a limited extent, and quality loss caused by temperature variation is usually outside the basic cover, so a refrigerated cargo clause or temperature cover has to be arranged separately. The set temperature, ventilation parameters, pre-trip inspection and temperature recording arrangements should be disclosed honestly at the time of cover, otherwise a claim may be refused for non-disclosure. In addition, a carrier's liability limit is usually far below the cargo value, so high-value perishables should carry commercial insurance of their own rather than relying wholly on the carrier for compensation.
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