Demand for premium Japanese fruit rises ahead of Chinese New Year

Festive demand has fuelled an increase Japanese produce imports via Singapore’s Changi Airport ahead of Lunar New Year. 

According to a report from CNA, SATS Coolport at Changi Airport has seen the volume of premium Japanese produce jump 10 per cent ahead of celebrations compared to the same period last year. SATS Coolport’s cold chain solutions manager Parry Lim told CNA increases around this time are generally expected. 

“About two to three weeks before the peak periods, we easily see a bumper increase in the volumes of cargo,” said Lim. 

In preparation, SATS Coolport will bring on more staff during these busier periods.  

“We roughly have an idea of which flights will have a heavy (amount) of perishable foods,” SATS Coolport duty manager Nabeel Ayub told CNA.  

“We try to pre-plan our peak periods. We will take our roster and we will plan accordingly.” 

SATS Coolport said it anticipates cargo volumes will recover to pre-pandemic levels in 2024. Ahead of the expected increases, the operation has been training more new staff. 

“(New employees) will attend our perishable and (pharmaceutical) training at our main training centre,” Nabeel said.  

Training usually takes about eight weeks.  

“Once they are done with the training, they will come over to join us at the Coolport,” Nabeel said.  

SATS Coolport said it continually improves its processes to keep up with rising demand. This includes switching to digital barcode scanners over the use of manual clipboards, which ATS Coolport said helped shave off about 20 to 30 per cent of the time taken to process deliveries. 

“So, that makes our work more efficient and faster, and makes the consignee (happier) to receive the goods earlier, so that they can deliver the items back to their consumers (fresher),” said SATS Coolport cargo coordinator Armi Abdul Majid.