Blue Whale introduces compact box

French exporter Blue Whale has introduced a new compact box for the distribution of its apples that allows the company to decrease its CO₂ emissions by some 15 per cent.

Thanks to alterations in the dimensions of the cardboard and the honeycomb cells, Blue Whale is able to fit 56 boxes per pallet instead of 49, and 1,176 boxes per container instead of 1,029.

The new box also saves considerably on handling times, lowers cardboard use and reduces damage to the fruit.

'The compact box is a big improvement,' says marketing manager Marc Peyres. 'It is a tighter fit, with less space being taken up by air, so it saves room. It is a green move, but it also helps to stop the apples from moving around in transit, so there is less damage. We sent these to Asia last year and they were a great success.'