Latin America

Most, the Sweden-based creator of real-time data and temperature trackers for perishables, has announced new distribution agreements in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, continuing the company’s dynamic expansion across Latin America.

Most’s new partnership will cover the three territories and is expected to bring new opportunities across several perishable sectors for the company’s monitoring solution. The company is already carrying out trials with major coffee and cocoa exporters in the countries, adding to its existing fresh produce customers.

The agreement follows the company’s recent expansion in Central America, where it has already gained a foothold in Panama and Costa Rica and is carrying out discussions in the Mexican and Guatemalan markets with the aim of being able to cover all of Central America and Mexico by the first half of 2018.

CEO Jon Hjertenstein, said: “We are now in partnership with a new distributor in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.

“Ecuador and Colombia are totally new for Most and it’s quite interesting because it gives us access to different products and industries – in this case, coffee and cacao – where having control of temperature and humidity is hugely important during transportation, and these are two areas where our device can provide effective support.”

Most has a solid fresh produce customer base in Chile and Argentina – two of the largest fruit exporters in South America – covering products such as citrus, apples and stone fruit.

The company is currently carrying out trials with exporters at a pan-Latin America level covering pineapples, bananas, table grapes and blueberries, as well as strawberries in Mexico.

“We are moving from historical, low margin fruits to being able to cover the whole supply chain with high segment fruits,” said Hjertenstein.

“We have been focusing a lot on sea transportation, but now we are seeing a lot of opportunities in land transportation internationally, including in Brazil, a huge country that needs effective monitoring for its domestic market.”

The Most Device’s sensors can track location, temperature, light, humidity and shock during transportation and upload stored data at any given opportunity to the GSM-network.

“Exporters need to be able to control and secure the whole logistics chain from grower to store,” explained Hjertenstein.

“In addition to the location sensor, our device has a light sensor which can ensure no unauthorised persons have tried to gain access to a consignment during transit, as well as an impact sensor, which can show if someone is loading anything into the container or trying to gain access very slowly.

“With more sensors our device gives a very complete picture of the actual state of the consignment and that is where we differ from other devices. Clients can also use information from the MOST Device to gain margins by showing proof that the cargo has really been inspected and demonstrating what route it took to reach its end destination.”