In conversation with Mr Miguel Fançony, Field Sales Executive, DHL Express Portugal, we tried to understand the Cold Chain Industry in Portugal. We also discussed the effect of pandemic and the future going forward.
“The
Portugal Cold Chain industry is currently growing well due to higher
demand from food and pharma sector, especially in recent years. The rise of
ecommerce has also led to the growth of cold transportation and storage in
Portugal due to the need of quicker deliveries.”
What do you
think is the current cold chain industry outlook in Portugal?
The cold chain industry has been
witnessing a period of high growth in the last couple of years, owing to the
higher demands from the food and pharma sector. It is currently growing
approximately at 5-8% while during the pandemic period, the CAGR was around
12-15%. Earlier, majority cold warehouses were located in Spain and goods were
directly transported to Portugal, but in recent years, we have seen development
of new cold warehouses in Portugal as well.
What is the
distribution between cold storage and cold chain transportation?
In recent years, the number of
cold storage warehouses in Portugal has gone up mainly due to the rise of
e-commerce and the pandemic. While earlier, 80% of the industry consisted of
cold transportation and 20% cold storage, the distribution is now at 60-40. In
the future, the ration might change to 55-45.
Furthermore,
what is the split between the different modes of transportation used in the
cold chain industry?
Land & Road transportation
occupies the maximum share at around 60%, followed by Sea (32%) and Air
transportation is in single digits (8%). However, we do see a higher growth
rate in Air transportation because of climate changes, faster deliveries and
rise of ecommerce. Also, air transportation was also used in import of vaccines
which has resulted in improved technical knowhow for cold transportation using
air.
Cold chain
caters to various industries, so which industry demands the highest for the
cold chain?
The food sector is the biggest
customer of the cold-chain industry in Portugal having 50% share with pharma
being second at 30% share. In the food sector, cold chains are majorly used for
fruits and vegetables followed by seafood and lastly meat and related products.
Portugal has abundant agriculture and a large coastline which leads to ample
supply of fish, sardines, tuna etc. The agro produce and seafood require cold
storage and transportation for domestic consumption and export.
The cold-chain demand from the
pharma sector has seen tremendous rise in recent years due to the pandemic and
ecommerce delivering medicines to the doorstep. A surprise addition to
customers of the cold-chain industry is the floral industry which involves
production and transportation of flowers. It is a small segment but a high growth
one in current times.
Can you
elaborate on the temperature ranges that are followed in Portugal’s cold chain
industry?
The temperature ranges followed
by Portugal are in line with other European nations. The temperature ranges for
pharma products are governed by the laws and for food products, they are
influenced by a variety of factors like shelf life.
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