Transporting time-sensitive frozen foods
29 APRIL 2019
Xiamen Boshan Food Co has turned to Scania trucks for transporting time-sensitive frozen foods.
Mingyi Ke is the young warehouse and logistics manager of Xiamen Boshan Food Co in China. After management studies abroad and the arrival of Scania’s new truck generation, Ke developed a new solution for the family company’s cold chain logistics business.
In 2003, Mingyi Ke’s father founded Xiamen Boshan Food Co., Ltd. Three years ago, Ke returned from his studies abroad and began taking over management of the company’s truck fleet. Soon he started developing the warehousing logistics and fleet management.
In June 2018, Ke attended the launch of the new Scania truck generation at Xiamen, and purchased four PGR series and five new generation Scania G450 6X2 trucks.
High demands
Boshan Food’s business includes frozen food, aquatic products, frozen meat storage, cold chain logistics and trade. Reliable transportation that ensures timely deliveries is crucial to a successful business, especially with refrigerated foodstuffs that could go to waste if there are significant delays.
“Cold chain transportation has high demands for the performance and stability of vehicle equipment. Using other brands or second-hand equipment can result in high failure rates and high maintenance costs, which will prevent us from meeting the customers’ transportation needs,” says Mingyi Ke.
Despite the fierce market competition on freight rates, Boshan Food’s good reputation in the industry means that it usually has a relatively stable freight rate.
Fuel economy biggest advantage
The company’s main transportation routes are from Xiamen to Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Yungui – the longest route is 1,250 kilometres and takes 15 hours.
“The overall advantage of the new Scania trucks is significant. While fuel occupies a large part of the total cost, Scania’s fuel economy is the biggest advantage,” says Mingyi Ke.
“A domestic vehicle has an average fuel consumption of 40 litres per 100 kilometres, which is about 10 litres more than Scania, and its annual maintenance costs are as high as 700,000 to 800,000 renminbi (Chinese yuan).”
Mingyi Ke also has clear data for comparing Scania’s two product generations: in the Yunnan-Guizhou region, Scania’s PGR series has an average fuel consumption of 30 litres per 100 kilometres, and the new generation Scania has 28 litres; in Zhejiang and Shanghai, the performance of the PGR series is 28 litres while the new generation Scania is between 25 and 26 litres.
“The cost savings alone are already appealing to truck owners,” Mingyi Ke explains.
Excellence in fleet management
Mingyi Ke strives for excellence when it comes to fleet management. Each vehicle in his fleet is equipped with seven cameras and uses third-party services to keep the driver and cargo safe at all times. Ke checks his mobile phone frequently to track the driving status of each vehicle and for any signs of driver fatigue, promptly reminding the driver to change shift.
Ke’s approach to driver health is paying off. China’s logistics industry has a high turnover of drivers, but this does not apply for those that drive for Boshan Food. There, they all hope to drive the Scania vehicles and soon Mingyi Ke will develop a driver assessment system to further enhance the safety awareness and fuel-saving skills of his drivers.
A healthy supply chain
Speaking of future development, Mingyi Ke says his plan is to buy 10 new Scania trucks every year.
“Frozen food transportation has high demands for temperature and time efficiency, so the equipment investment and fleet management costs in the early stages will be relatively high. Using top-notch equipment to ensure safe and efficient transportation will win the trust of customers and maintain better freight rates and help form a healthy supply chain.”
With the help of Scania trucks and a proactive managerial approach, Mingyi Ke, a young and promising talent, is looking to the future of the family company with great confidence.
