Hong Kong Air Cargo Industry Services Limited (Hacis) has opened a new climate-controlled facility – “Cool Zone” – to cater for the increasing volumes of perishable and temperature-sensitive e-commerce traffic transiting Hong Kong.

Hacis’ new Cool Zone – located within its E-commerce Fulfilment Centre – provides a total, climate-controlled handling solution for goods such as fresh fruit and chocolates, speeding up the handling process and avoiding the potential cost and delays of transferring goods to downtown facilities for processing, before delivery to the agent’s warehouse or the final customer. Using Hacis Cool Zone, cargo arriving in Hong Kong can easily be processed and delivered to local customers the same day.

Hacis Cool Zone offers a handling area with temperatures down to 15°C, so preserving product quality throughout the fulfilment process. The facility is equipped with storage racks, and work tables for pick and pack and labelling. Cool Zone can integrate with agents’ own IT systems to feed direct status updates and stock information.

The decision to open Hacis Cool Zone was driven by the growth in cool chain shipments arriving at Hong Kong International Airport, and destined for e-commerce customers, explains Hacis Executive Director Ringo Chan: “The Hacis E-commerce Fulfilment Centre needed to support this expansion of temperature-sensitive e-commerce business to various local and overseas destinations, and having reliable and efficient chiller facilities was essential to ensure the preservation of these shipments in prime condition.”

Hacis Cool Zone offers charging on a per-item-per-service basis, or as a comprehensive tailored package. Concludes Ringo: “Hacis Cool Zone is unique in providing a total one-stop-shop solution for temperature-sensitive commodities, with all processes carried out in controlled conditions. This supports the expansion of Online to Offline (O2O) e-commerce businesses to various local and overseas destinations.”