Most mid-size buyers have one cold room, not six. A mixed Egyptian part-load that arrived in a single reefer at a single set point then has to be held for one to three weeks in a warehouse that also holds everything else you sell. The compromises you make in that room decide how much of the load you actually sell at full value, and they are different from the compromises made inside the container.
What Set Point Should One Room Run At?
Room temperature is set by the most chilling-sensitive item in it, not by the average. The table below gives the ideal holding conditions for the Egyptian products that turn up most often in a mixed load.
| Product | Ideal holding temperature | Relative humidity | Chilling sensitive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh strawberry | 0 to 1 degrees Celsius | 90 to 95 per cent | No |
| Orange, mandarin, lemon | 4 to 7 degrees Celsius | 90 to 95 per cent | Mildly |
| Pomegranate | 5 to 7 degrees Celsius | 90 to 95 per cent | Mildly |
| Green bean, sugar snap | 5 to 7 degrees Celsius | 95 per cent | Yes |
| Colored pepper | 7 to 10 degrees Celsius | 90 to 95 per cent | Yes |
| Cucumber | 10 to 12 degrees Celsius | 90 to 95 per cent | Yes |
| Mango | 10 to 12 degrees Celsius | 85 to 90 per cent | Yes |
| Onion and garlic | 0 to 2 degrees Celsius | 65 to 70 per cent | No |
Two groups cannot share a room honestly. Onion and garlic want dry air at 65 to 70 per cent humidity, and everything else wants 90 per cent or more. Mango, cucumber and pepper want 10 degrees, and citrus and beans want 5 to 7. If your load spans both ends, run the room at the warmer end and move the cold-tolerant items out first, or accept dedicated space for the onions. The same conflict inside the container is covered in mixing products in one Egyptian reefer.
What Does Ethylene Do in a Shared Room?
Mango, melon and fresh fig release ethylene as they ripen. Green beans, cucumber, herbs and leafy items are sensitive to it and respond with yellowing, softening and loss of firmness, sometimes within 48 hours in a small room with poor air exchange.
If you have to hold both, put physical distance between them, keep the producers nearest the door so they leave first, and run the room fan continuously rather than on cycle. A small room with three pallets of ripening mango is a ripening room whether you meant it to be one or not.
What Rotation Order Actually Works?
Sell in order of remaining life, not in order of arrival. On a typical Egyptian part-load, herbs and beans go first within three to five days, then mango and figs, then peppers and cucumbers, then citrus, then pomegranate, then onion, garlic and dates, which will hold for weeks. Product-by-product life expectancy is set out in shelf life by product on Egyptian mixed loads.
Label every pallet on arrival with the product, lot code, container number and the date the doors were opened. On a mixed load with six items from one supplier, the lot code is the only thing that will let you trace a complaint back to a specific block and a specific pack date.
How Do You Keep Weight Loss Down?
Shrink in the cold room comes from dry air and from broken cartons more than from time. Keep pallets wrapped or hooded where the product tolerates it, do not break a pallet down until you are selling from it, and keep the room reasonably full, since a half-empty room cycles harder and dries faster. On leafy items and herbs, a room running at 80 per cent humidity instead of 95 will cost visible weight in three days.
Record pallet weights at intake. If you later need to discuss an arrival shortfall with the supplier, an intake weight taken the same day carries far more weight than an estimate made a week later, and it separates transit shrink from warehouse shrink. What to check in the first hour is covered in container arrival checks on Egyptian produce.
Contact
Peivana builds mixed and part-loads out of Egypt for mid-size buyers, and we will plan the load around the room you actually have. Message us on WhatsApp at +20 10 9911 1918 with your product list, pallet quantities and cold room capability for a same-day quotation.