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Towards Developing a Sea-Freight Supply Chain for Delivering Pakistani

Mangoes to European Supermarket: A Private-Public Sector Model

Article  in  Acta Horticulturae · November 2010

DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2010.880.7

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Toward Developing a Sea-Freight Supply Chain for Delivering
Pakistani Mangoes to European Supermarket: a Private-Public Sector
Model
A.U. Malik1, a, O. Hafeez1, P. Johnson2, J.A. Campbell3, M. Amin1, M. Saeed1,
M.S. Mazhar1, S. Schouten4 and J. Adeel5
1
Postharvest Lab, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture,
Faisalabad, Pakistan
2
Depatment of Food and Agriculture, Western Australia, Australia
3
Primary Industries & Fisheries, Queensland, Australia
4
Van-Amerongen CA-company, The Netherlands
5
Metro Cash and Carry Pakistan Private Limited, Pakistan

Keywords: fruit quality, consumers, controlled atmospheres, storage, transport

Abstract
Exporting mangoes by sea is a commercially attractive proposition for
traders throughout the world. The same is true for Pakistan, since sea-freight is 4-5
times cheaper than air freight and large volumes can be delivered, which is not
possible by air. Pakistan, being the 4th largest mango producer internationally, has
never had access to European supermarkets. However, with the opening up of their
stores in Pakistan, and having evaluated the response of European customers to
Pakistani mangoes, these supermarkets (Metro) are now trying to develop a sea-
freight supply chain for supplying Pakistani mangoes to their stores in Europe and
other countries. This opportunity provided an impetus for changes in industry
practices to improve quality and also provided an opportunity for public sector
involvement to support such initiatives through capacity building of stakeholders.
Since sea-freight takes extended time (24-28 days to Europe), mangoes need to
undergo special pre-and postharvest/shipping protocols, so that at destination the
delivered quality and shelf life meet required supermarket standards. In this
internationally collaborative initiative, both simulated and physical experiments
have been performed using Controlled Atmosphere (CA)-technology. Studies were
performed using a mobile CA-lab, provided by the European collaborators, enabling
performance evaluation of mangoes under different CA conditions. Trial shipments
to Metro Germany, using a MAERSK CA-container, explored weaknesses in the
overall supply chain logistics both in-country and on the European side, which had
never handled Pakistani mangoes shipped by sea-under CA-conditions. This
presentation provides an account of this multi-dimensional project, being funded
and technically supported by several local and international organizations. While
the project provides an insight into the progress made in developing mango sea-
freight supply chain, it also serves as model for agencies and countries targeting the
development of similar fresh produce supply chains.

INTRODUCTION
Mango is the second most important fruit crop in terms of production and exports
in Pakistan. Currently about 156.5 thousand hectares of commercial mango plantations
produce over 1,754 thousand tons of fruit, with an average production of 11.2 tons ha-1
(MinFA, 2008). In Pakistan, geographically, mango is grown mainly between latitudes
25°-32° N, but production is centered between latitude 27°-31° N (Sindh: Tando Allah
Yar, Mir Pur Khas, Noshehro Feroz districts; Punjab: Multan RahimYar Khan,
Muzzaffargarh, Multan and Khanewal districts) (Malik and Rajwana, 2009), with the
harvest period from May (Sindh province) to Sept (Punjab), with the peak supply season

a
malikaman1@gmail.com

Proc. IS on Postharvest Pacifica 2009 83

Eds.: E.W. Hewett et al.
Acta Hort. 880, ISHS 2010
being June to August. While there are around a dozen varieties under cultivation, only 9
are important for trade (Table 1).
Pakistan remains among the top six mango exporting countries, although most
production is domestically consumed. Pakistan exported around 6% of its production to
more than twenty countries worth US$32.3 million (PHDEB, 2008). Traditionally, the
main markets for Pakistani mangoes are Gulf countries and UK/EU.
Currently the mango industry in Pakistan is undergoing a tremendous
development focus. The main reasons are the recognition of horticulture potential and
changes in Government policy declaring it a priority along with the dairy sector. Other
triggering initiatives include the mango project under Pakistan-Australia Agriculture
Sector Linkage program. Further impetus has been provided by the entrance to the market
by European supermarket chains such as Metro Cash & Carry. Metro has now established
five outlets in Pakistan, and has its presence in 32 countries. Metro aims to export
Pakistani mangoes to its European stores and to its other international stores
(Anonymous, 2009a). With new export opportunities, state and provincial Governments
have geared up their Research, Development and Extension departments to actively
engage in improving the mango industry. The Government funded initiative, the Fruit and
Vegetable Development project of Punjab, has made good progress using the Farmer
Field School (FFS) approach.

Need for Sea-Freight Supply Chain

Improvements in sea cargo handling systems have encouraged export by sea.
Export to markets in close proximity, like the Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia, has almost
entirely shifted from air to sea freight (60%, reefer to open-top ratio 1:1). Current
activities are examing the potential use of sea freight for distant markets as well.
Currently exports to distant markets, including Europe and the Far East, are by air freight
(PHDEB, 2008).
The increasing cost of air freight and limited availability of cargo space are two
key factors creating interest to examine sea-freight technology for mango exports. Sea
freight is also a more cost effective mode of transport for marketing mangoes, which
assists in reducing price and generating increased sales. Sea freight takes longer (21-24
days) to deliver mangoes to the market than does air freight, and there are technological
and logistics limitations in the successful export protocol. Work on mango sea-freight is
being undertaken in important mango growing/exporting countries (Johnson, 2003;
Gosebee et al., 2005; Jenifer, 2007; Anonymous, 2009b).

CURRENT PAKISTAN MANGO INDUSTRY SCENARIO

Distant Mango Production Areas

Currently mango production is distributed in Sindh (21%) and Punjab (79%)
provinces (MinFA, 2008). It takes about 6-10 h to transport mangoes from orchards in
Sindh province to Karachi (port city) and 24 to 30 h from the main mango growing areas
in Punjab.

Road and Transport Conditions

Farm to market road infrastructure is still not well developed, although some
mango areas have properly built metallic roads connected to highways. The Super
Highway that connects Punjab and Sindh to Karachi is in good condition, but is very busy
and often experiences delays as it is the route by which imported goods are transported
from Karachi to Punjab and NWF provinces, as well goods for Afghanistan. Transport of
mangoes is in open top trucks (10-12 tons). Any delay in transport decreasing shelf life.
Refrigerated transport facilities are not available for inland transport (except for Kinnow
mandarin), although there is increasing use of reefer containers for exporting mangoes to
the Middle East.

84
Lack of Farm Based Packhouse Facilities
Farm infrastructure lacks proper packhouse and pre-cooling facilities. Mangoes
are packed into wooden crates in the orchard and transported to Karachi where most of
the export packhouse facilities are located. The delay in processing and pre-cooling limits
the shelf life of mangoes.

Harvest and Handling

Mangoes are traditionally harvested by calendar date; while ‘Tapka’ a local term
referring to the stage when the first tree ripened mango fruit fall’s off the tree, is regarded
as the mango maturity indicator. Accurate harvest maturity prediction of different
cultivars is still a major issue affecting fruit quality. Mangoes are harvested manually
with or without harvest aids; however, dropping of mangoes on the ground and sap
contamination are the most common harvest problems causing heavy fruit losses and poor
quality. Mangoes are generally packed in wooden crates, often over packed (belly
packing), and transported to wholesale markets where they are re-sorted/repacked in
either wooden crates or cardboard boxes for export purposes. Over-packing (in crates)
and overloading of vehicles are the major causes of fruit losses during transit.

Marketing
Mango orchards are mostly contracted early in the growing season. Most
contractors work with/for commission agents. In general, under these arrangements
growers have no control over harvesting and handling. Some exporters also work as
commission agents. Currently some exporters have started procuring mangoes directly
from the farm but the bulk of mango export supply is through the wholesale markets.

GAP Certification
GAP certified orchards are limited. GAP certification, linked to new export
opportunities to the EU, is creating interest in adoption of GAP in the mango industry. So
far, two mango farms in Sindh and six in Punjab have Global GAP certification, while
others are underway.

SEA FREIGHT DEVELOPMENT WORK FOR MANGO

Considering the complexity of the issues, an integrated collaborative approach has
been adopted to make more rapid progress toward developing sea-freight technology for
exporting mangoes to Europe. A team comprising stakeholders and technical
professionals along with support organisations was developed to work together on the
initiative.
The overall work, organized from three aspects is presented below to show the
approach to solve the supply chain problems. The Mango Supply Chain Management
Project of Pak-Australia Agriculture Sector Linkages Program provided a good platform
to carryout most of the required research and development work. Controlled atmosphere
research was done through Pak-Netherland PESP project.

Aspect-I: Research and Development

Research and development studies were conducted at the postharvest laboratory,
University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, regarding work required for developing sea-freight
technology. Initial work on sea-freight technology focused on the mango cultivar
‘Sindhri’, which is predominantly produced in Sindh province that is a shorter distance to
packing and port facilities compared to mangoes grown in Punjab. Studies focused on
maturity assessment, de-sapping techniques, optimisation of shipping temperature and
optimising controlled atmosphere storage/shipping conditions.

1. Maturity Assessment. Maturity index is very important for good fruit quality. Storage
life and quality of mango depends on stage of maturity at which fruit is harvested.
Attributes that may be considered as maturity indices include specific gravity, heat units,

85
days to mature (after fruit set), fruit shape, dry matter, starch content, TSS, skin and pulp
colour and selected components measured with near infra red spectrometry instruments.
Maturity measurements for local mango cultivars are not standardized. Fruit harvested at
the incorrect stage often show erratic storage and ripening behaviour. Maturity may also
increase susceptibility to hot water treatment damage. Hot water dipping is an economical
means of controlling diseases as well as for market access (quarantine treatment for fruit
fly disinfestation) like China and Iran.
From the tested attributes (Table 2) specific gravity, dry matter, pulp colour and
heat units were found to be the most effective maturity indicators, with pulp colour being
chosen as field guide for maturity assessment.
2. Sap-Burn Management Studies. Sap damage was identified as a major quality
problem at wholesale and retail level. Laboratory and field studies showed the problem
could be controlled effectively at farm level. De-stemming of fruit harvested with
pedicels, either physically (de-stemming and placing fruit inverted on racks for 20-30
min) or chemically inside the 0.5% lime solution (holding for 2 min.) proved to be an
efficient method to reduce sap burn (Fig. 1) (Malik et al., 2008). Further, morning was
best for harvesting mangoes, while mid noon picking had the most damaging effects (Fig.
1). Therefore, a suspension in harvesting operation at noon was proposed.
3. Temperature Optimization. Delay in softening; colour development, post-storage
ripening quality and disease incidence were the attributes highly dependent on storage
conditions. Among various temperatures tested, 11°C was the most appropriate storage
temperature for extending shelf life of mango ‘Sindhri’ without negative impacts on fruit
quality.
4. Controlled Atmosphere Studies. Under the Pak-Netherland public-private sector joint
initiative, the Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad,
Van Amerongen CA-technology, Netherlands, and METRO Cash & Carry Pakistan Pvt.
Ltd., collaborated to work on CA technology of mango, with an objective of using this
technology for sea-freighting mangoes to Europe, such that a shelf life of 5-6 days at
destination was achievable. These studies were conducted on mango ‘Sindhri’ and
‘Sufaid Chaunsa’, using simulation techniques in the mobile CA-lab imported from
Netherlands’ for the purpose. The experimental protocol was the same as that to be used
for the shipping trial.
The influence of low oxygen and high CO2 for quality characteristics were: loss of
the green skin colour, firmness loss, loss of acids and development of decay were highest
during storage in air, with less in 3% O2. Rots decreased when as CO2 concentration
increased.
Aspect-II: Training of Stakeholders to Improve Mango Fruit Quality
After conducting the necessary research and development work, the ASLP project
team conducted training of the participating stakeholders (contractor/growers/exporters)
to develop the necessary skills in mango maturity assessment, de-sapping, processing,
grading and packing. Training sessions in Punjab were organised through linkages with a
Fruit and Vegetable (Extension) project using the Farmer’s Field School (FFS) system.
Hands-on training in packing, grading and machinery and equipment maintenance was
organised with the help of an experienced Australian mango growers/packer, which
helped to bring immediate improvement in packhouse operations.

Aspect-III: Physical Sea-Freight Trials

Metro Cash & Carry was very interested in Pakistani mango exports to Europe by
sea to reduce freight costs and to boost export volumes to its global network. Exporting
by sea instead of air would reduce freight costs from US$1.2 per kg to US$0.3 per kg,
making Pakistani mangoes more affordable and resolving the issue of limited airfreight
capacity from Pakistan (Anonymous, 2009b). The first sea-freight trial on mango
‘Sindhri’ was conducted during 2008. Special Controlled Atmosphere (CA) containers
(20 feet) from Maersk were used for the trial consignment.

86
 Mangoes were harvested from the participating grower’s farm in Sindh province.
Fruit were harvested with a long pedicel and shifted to the farm shed using plastic crates.
Fruit were de-stemmed and later washed in 0.5% lime water for 2 min. Fruit was air dried
before packing into crates lined with newspaper. Crates of fruit were then transported to
Karachi using open top Madza trucks (6 tons).
At the packing facility in Karachi, fruit were treated with a hot water fungicidal
dip for disease control, and then packed into open–top cardboard boxes, introduced by
Metro from Peru and manufactured at a UAE packaging facility. Fruit could not be pre-
cooled properly because of a failure of a temporary built pre-cooling facility. However,
temperature was brought down close to the required 11°C, before loading into the CA-
container. The CA settings were 3% O2 and 5% CO2, with 11°C temp and 85±5% relative
humidity. Fruit from this consignment arrived in good condition, but had higher acid
content, which gradually reduced during conditioning over the next two days. Colour
development and wrinkling were the main issues, and considering customers’
expectations about Pakistani mangoes (yellow colour-ready to eat), the commercial
partner decided not to offer fruit from the initial trial consignment for sale. However, the
same year a trial consignment of ‘Sufaid Chaunsa’ mangoes from Punjab province was
sent to Germany in a CA-container (3% O2 and 5% CO2, 10°C temperature and 85±5%
RH); the outcome was 50% marketable fruit with the remainder being affected by disease
(mainly stem end rot). The second year trials (2009) on ‘Sindhri’, with improved pre-
cooling, had less than 5% postharvest loss, with the fruit being sold in Germany.
Although external colour was still not optimum, taste and internal pulp colour was
improved. Overall, colour development and wrinkles on the skin were identified as the
main areas of improvement required in mango ‘Sindhri’. Skin wrinkling is thought to be
linked to maturity variation, and this problem may be overcome using more mature fruit
for sea-consignment in future; such a step would be expected to improve external colour
and taste. In ‘Sufaid Chaunsa’ mangoes, postharvest diseases (mainly stem end rot) was
the single most important problem and more work is needed to achieve an acceptable
level of postharvest losses (<5%) at destination in this variety, to make a commercially
viable sea-freight supply chain.

CONCLUSION
Further research and development is required on stem end rot control and colour
development, to establish commercial sea-freight supply chains for delivering Pakistani
mangoes to Europe. These studies highlighted the need for developing variety specific
shipping and post-shipment handling/ripening protocols. Further, it also demonstrated
how stakeholders can work together to help achieve common goals of complex issues,
which otherwise require manifold resources and time.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Australian Centre
for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR), Metro Cash and Carry Pakistan Pvt Ltd,
Van Amerongen CA-company, Netherlands, and the participating stakeholders/
organizations.

Literature Cited
Anonymous, 2009a. Metro trials Pakistani mango sea exports.
http://www.fruitnet.com/content.aspx?cid=2995&ttid=6&sid=2994 Date of visit: 03
Nov. 09.
Anonymous, 2009b. Mango exports to take the sea route. http://economictimes.
indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Agriculture/Mango-exports-to-take-the-sea-route/
articleshow/4493573.cms
Gosebee, M. and Thom, L. 2005. Mango Sea-Freight Trial. Horticulture Technical
Annual Report 2001/2002, Northern Territory Government, Australia.
Jenifer, V.W. 2007. Controlled Atmosphere Technology to expand Philippine mango

87
 horizons in the international market. http://www.bpre.gov.ph/?page=News&action=
details&CODE01=NC07050135 Date of visit. 03 Nov. 09.
Johnson, P. 2003. Mango Sea Freight: WA Country Hour Archive.
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/wa/stories/s764494.htm. Date of visit. 03 Nov. 09.
Malik, A.U., Amin, M., Saeed, M. and Mazhar, M.S. 2008. ASLP Mango Supply Chain
Report-2008. Australia-Pakistan Agriculture Sector Linkages program, University of
Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Malik, A.U. and Rajwana, I.A. 2006. Postharvest R&D Issues in Mango Industry of
Pakistan: ASLP mango Workshop Multan; Australian Centre for International
Agriculture Research.
MinFA. 2008. Agricultural statistics of Pakistan. Ministry of Food and Agriculture,
Government of Pakistan. Islamabad.
PHDEB. 2008. Mango Marketing Strategy. Pakistan Horticulture Development and
Export Board. http://www.phdeb.org.pk/MktStrategies/Mango.pdf (Date of visit: 03
Nov, 09.

Tables

Table 1. Mango varietal harvest calendar in Pakistan*.

MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT

MALDA
DUSEHRI
SINDHRI*
LANGRA
ANWAR RATOLE
CHAUNSA*
FAJRI
KALA CHAUNSA
SUFAID CHAUNSA*
*Main varieties (Malik and Rajwana, 2006).

Table 2. Important maturity indicators of mango ‘Sindhri’.

Sp. Gr Pulp TSS Fruit size Fruit weight (g)

colour (°Brix) Dia (mm) Length (cm) Small Medium Large
1.01-1.02 Creamy white 6.0-7.5 60.0-90.0 10.5-17.0 325-375 375-450 450-600
with
yellowish
tinge
(Malik et al., 2008)

88
Figures

7:00 AM 12:00 PM 5:00 PM

3
Sap Injury (Score)

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.5 0.5% Lime 1% Lime 0.4% Control
Mango
Wash

Fig. 1. Sap injury score in relation to harvest time and anti-sap treatments

Appendix-I. Sea freight supply chain.

Action
Selection of farm
Pre-checks (harvest)
Harvesting and de-sapping fruit
Transport to processing plant
Processing/packaging at factory
Pre-cooling followed by loading
into reefer
Delivering at port for shipment
Conditioning at arrival, sorting
Transportation/distribution
Retail
Comments
GAP certified farms
Harvest aids are available, workers are briefed about
fruit maturity, harvesting and handling
Harvest mature fruit with pedicel and minimal
blemishes. Keep fruit in clean plastic crates, under
tree shade, de-sap, air dry, pack in crates
Use smaller trucks. Move in the evening
Hot water dip, grade fruit uniformly, pack in open
top boxes. Palletize and shift to cool room
Pre-cool to 13°C, load into CA container (inform
about setting to shipping line in advance)
Deliver container at port before cut-off time of vessel
(check in advance)
Check temp, TSS, firmness, taste at arrival, and
condition mangoes accordingly. Have sorting as per
need
Transport in temperature controlled vehicle keeping
it around 18°C
Keep temperature in retail area around 20°C

89
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