Photo: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, 2010.

Reefer Stacking Area, Porte Oceane Terminal, Le Havre

Terminals commonly allocate a portion of their yard space to the storage of reefers. A joint venture between APM Terminals (Maersk) and Terminaux de Normandie, the Porte Oceane terminal started its operations in 2008 and has an annual capacity of about 544,000 TEU. The reefer staking area, which is a completely separate part of the terminal, has 438 plugs available. Reefer stacking requires continuous monitoring to insure that the cargo temperature is kept within a specific range, otherwise the terminal operator is subject to a liability.