Greenery Superior has taken delivery of the first of Dawsonrentals new ripening units, to support its processing operation for Nectar UK Limited, a specialist supplier of ripened ready to eat stonefruit to the UK's leading retailers.

Nectar UK supplies apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums and claims to be unique in that it produces 70 per cent of the fruit it sells on its own fruit farms in Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe.

The 37 pallet capacity fruit ripening unit, which is currently being used by Greenery Superior to ripen plums, peaches and nectarines for Nectar UK, is conveniently attached to the permanent facility at Greenery Superior's site.

The dual purpose unit kick starts the ripening process and then controls the rate of ripening up to the point when the product is ordered by the customer.

To create the specific conditions required for ripening stonefruit, the Greenery Superior unit has been specified with an ethylene gas generator and monitoring system. The unit has a twin refrigeration system, with each fridge having a significant 22kW of heating capability and a cooling capacity of 15Kw.

Steve Askham, spokesman for Nectar UK, said: 'As orders from the stores tend to be very unpredictable, managing the variability in demand and ensuring that the fruit is ripened at the right pace can be quite a challenge. As a result, artificial ripening is a vital requirement. The Dawsonrentals ripening unit works very well and has been an essential add on to the existing fixed facilities.

'We were unsure of our long-term requirements for supplementary ripening capacity, so rental was an appropriate option. This ensures that we have the flexibility that we need if fruit volumes fluctuate.' Nectar UK supplements its own production with imports. To ensure that the best quality fruit is produced, the parties share knowledge of key fruit varieties and production techniques.

Askham continued: 'The key success factors in our business are having the right fruit varieties, growing and harvesting them correctly, and having the best facilities to ripen and distribute them. Dawsonrentals is contributing to this.'

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