Fruit Handling

Germany’s biggest fruit handling facility operates at the O’Swaldkai multi-purpose terminal in Hamburg. HHLA’s fruit and refrigeration centre (HHLA Frucht) discharges approximately 500,000 tonnes of bananas and almost 80,000 tonnes of apples, pineapples, grapes, citrus fruit and potatoes every year. The Belgian Sea-Invest Group holds a 49 percent stake in the company.

When discharging the cargo from the ship’s hold and from the reefer containers themselves, the cold chain must not be broken. HHLA therefore uses the latest technical ship-handling and ground-handling equipment to take the pallets to the climate-controlled warehouses immediately.

Although the tropical fruit used to arrive primarily on reefer ships, it is now transported in reefer containers. HHLA Frucht has more than 300 electricity connections for these containers. In partnership with HCCR (Hamburger Container- und Chassis-Reparatur-Gesellschaft mbH), a complete range of container maintenance and repair services is available directly at Terminal O’Swaldkai, including regular inspections (PTI), in particular.