John Kowarsky at the IFTEX in Nairobi, Kenya.
The concept
When designing the Cargolite, John Kowarsky, CEO of the company, wanted to meet four principles; removing the load from the carton walls, reduce the carton weight, increase the pack rate and improve the stackability. "In order to remove the load from the carton wall, each Cargolite carton is equipped with two polypropylene frames and each frame consists of two vertical columns that are connected to each other with upper and lower laterals. These frames, which are also used to hold the cartons ergonomically in a horizontal position, divert the weight of the flowers away from the carton's walls and support each carton separately", says Kowarsky.
In the picture, two air pallets, one with Cargolite and the second with regular cartons, are seen together upon their arrival to Europe.
"And with the weight diverted away from the carton's walls, it is no longer necessary to use heavy five ply boards, a much lighter, 3 ply board, is enough. With the frames holding the cartons from collapsing, less packaging materials are required to protect the flowers" As a result, more stems can be packed and the weight of the carton is considerably reduced, which meets the second and third principle.
Finally, Kowarsky was also able to meet his fourth principle, stackability, as the projections of one frame fit into the cavities of the frame above it. "This makes the boxes on the airpalet very stable and enables the flowers to arrive at their destination without any damage", he says.
Cooling
"Usually, regular boxes are stacked on the air pallet very densely. As a result, it is quite hard to cool down the boxes in the heart of the pallet", says Kowarsky. "The Cargolite frames create a space between the cartons which make it ideal for the cold air to flow between the boxes. And in addition, Cargolite is optimized for skids. Therefore, both features make Cargolite an interesting choice for shipping flowers by sea freight. "Furthermore the offloading of the cartons with the use of a fork lift, will save labour and minimize damage caused by man-handling the cartons too many times", he adds.
Carbon Footprint
According to Kowarsky and his colleague, Amnon Zamir, Cargolite also seems to have a lower carbon footprint then the regular existing boxes. "It is made from recycled polypropylene and recycled paper, the cartons are lighter and require much less paper than existing boxes. In addition, the Cargolite cartons contain more flowers and therefore reduces the number of cartons required and reduces even further the paper consumption. And less cartons also mean less trucks, less planes, less emissions and so on. So all in all, a improved carbon footprint", concludes Kowarsky.
For more information
Cargolite
John Kowarsky
Email: johnk@nalto2012.com
www.cargo-lite.com