New Delhi, November 2, 2023: Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR), a Navratna Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Ministry of Railways, Government of India, is partnering with Japan-based "Innovation Thru Energy™" (ITE) to introduce IceBattery™ technology to the Indian market. CONCOR and ITE jointly unveiled temperature-controlled 20-feet and 40-feet containers coupled with DX (digital) platforms and IoT tracking on Dedicated Freight Corridor. The containers would help address critical issues in cold chain logistics, including environmental concerns, food wastage, the absence of a robust medical cold chain, and rising logistics costs.
ITE, a manufacturer of green and sustainable cold chain solutions, offers cost-efficient supply chain solutions while reducing carbon emissions across train, sea, land, and air-cargo cold chains, as well as last-mile delivery.
Key features of 20F/40F IceBattery container:
- Reduces energy consumption by 70~80%.
- Maintains temperatures between 2°C~10°C and 70~90% humidity without active power, extending perishable shelf life
- While in operation 0% energy and 0% CO2 emission
- Save 70~0% CO2 emission, Carbon offset
- Leverages cold chain innovations to optimize resources, with a 12-hour charge providing 72 hours of temperature maintenance
- Suitable for transporting perishable food items, non-food items, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and other healthcare products.
The integrated IceBattery system in these containers ensures cold temperatures for over three days without electric power during transport, supporting a wide temperature range from -25 to +25 degrees Celsius. They also function as portable cold storage units, reducing power consumption by 50% in urban and rural areas, preventing food loss and pharmaceutical disposal, and improving product quality.
These containers are equipped with IoT devices for real-time tracking of cargo conditions, providing crucial data on location, temperature, humidity, unauthorized access, and more through a user-friendly smartphone interface.
Pankaj Garg, Founder and CEO of ITE, said, "Our 20FT/40FT IceBattery-equipped containers revolutionize perishable transportation, making it more efficient and eco-friendly. By introducing IceBattery trucks and establishing a nationwide network of these vehicles and storage points, we aim to enhance food security, reduce wastage, and lower prices while significantly reducing CO2 emissions per shipment."
As India pursues a "Multi-Modal Transport" strategy to enhance logistics efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions, the IceBattery system offers an adaptable solution for end-to-end cold chain logistics, even during terminal loading and unloading processes. The collaboration between ITE and CONCOR aims to minimize in-transit perishable wastage, reducing an estimated $14 billion in losses due to inefficiencies in India's cold supply chain and last-mile deliveries. This initiative aims to connect various cold chain stakeholders and implement technology-driven solutions to address these inefficiencies. CONCOR plans to use these containers for transporting fruits, vegetables, and perishables within the Indian Railways network.
