Reliable power to help feed a country during pandemic

The outbreak of COVID-19 has put immense pressure on global supply chains, with stockpiling becoming commonplace in many countries. In Singapore, 90% of food is imported from other countries due to limited farming land. This means the country faces unique challenges in ensuring food security – an issue that was exacerbated by the pandemic.

To keep the nation fed, the Government needed to increase the volume of food that it imported. As a result of the efforts to meet the surge in demand, over 500 reefer containers storing frozen food and perishables arrived at Tanjong Pagar port terminal.

The port terminal is typically used for storage of containers that do not require power, meaning that a vast majority of the terminal is not equipped with grid connectivity. With the need for a reliable power source to ensure the food remained refrigerated and edible, the port needed to quickly put in place a temporary power solution.

This needed to be delivered while abiding by social distancing requirements during a time when site access was limited.

Aggreko was tasked to provide power for chilled storage for the reefer containers to ensure that the food remained refrigerated.

Our solution incorporated six 1250 kVA power generators and five 3000 litre fuel tanks. To ensure a reliable source of power for the reefer containers located across the port terminal, five of the generators were activated with the additional generator being deployed on a trailer to provide backup power should it be required.

The solution also included Aggreko’s Remote Monitoring technology (ARM). With social distancing requirements still in place in Singapore, this system allowed our engineers to keep a watchful eye on the operation of the system without needing to be on site and enabled our engineers to respond within a matter of hours to any issues. This support was critical as any failure in the system would have otherwise resulted in the spoiling of hundreds of tonnes of food.

The solution was deployed and installed within three weeks to coincide with the reefer containers’ inbound shipment into Singapore, meaning the port’s capacity for accepting reefer containers was secure ahead of the peak in demand and food was not spoiled.

Our expertise and our mobile, modular equipment combined to provide the perfect solution, which helped the port authority secure Singapore’s food supply for the months ahead in the face of uncertainty in food supply chains caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

This meant that the country’s surge in demand for food could be met throughout the peak of the pandemic – all with the work being delivered in a safe, socially-distanced way that was compliant with local regulations.