OREANDA-NEWS. December 29, 2012. The 3rd International Conference 'Cold Chain Logistics in Ukraine' took place in the Kyiv's 'Rus' hotel, being the major annual event in the local market of chilled and frozen food logistics

Nearly 200 experts and top-managers of the market leading operators contributed to the work of the conference organized by the Ukrainian Cold Chain Association (UCCA), among whom were producers and distributors of chilled and frozen food categories, suppliers of cooling equipment, providers of logistics services, owners of temperature warehouses and transportation companies as well as retail chains in Ukraine

The 3rd conference proved not only the core event in the domestic market but also a sign of a considerable consolidation of Ukraine's cold chain industry as well as its recognition on the international map of chains of cold food supplies

In particular, Mr. Bill Hudson, President of the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA, the USA) as one of the key stakeholders in the world's trading associations as well as Mr. Hans van Leeuwen, President of the European Cold Storage and Logistics Association (ECSLA, Belgium), who is a founder and General Manager of BT9 Israel Ben-Tsur company, and many others came to Ukraine to take part in the conference

"We are very happy with the fact that the number of participants of the 'Cold Chain Logistics in Ukraine' conference has been eventually increasing. This year we are hosting the respectable experts from different countries", remarks Mr. Eugene Golub, UCCA Chair of Board. "We hope that the increasing interest in our conference should keep its positive trend in next year as well"

The delegates of the conference discussed the situation in the domestic and international markets of cold chain logistics during the year 2012 as well as exchanged with opinions regarding the real prospects of their evolution in near future

The key topics of the conference became:

Selection of a transportation means: comparison of profit margins while acquisition of new and used vehicles

Energy efficiency in warehousing: reduction of energy related costs and new technologies

Temperature regime monitoring: efficiency of temperature monitoring systems employed in Ukraine. Best practices and practical recommendations from the market pace-setters

Retail: best practices in building up the system of chilled and frozen food products delivery from the domestic retail sector's leaders

The really hot debates occured at the talk show devoted to the advantages of use of new and used temperature transport fleet. The participants of the discussion, among whom were Mr. Alexander Peklin, GM of 'Transholod' - General Distributor of the Carrier Transicold Europe and Mr. Igor Ignatiev, Brand Manager of Hyundai Truck, on the one part, and Mr. Alexander Geybek, GM of Jean Chereau S.A.S. (France) and Mr. Jean Batiste Minar, Marketing Director of Copavi S.A.S. (France), Official Distributor of Renault Trucks, on the other one. The experts employed quite an emotion to defend own viewpoints with regards to the pro's and con's of an used truck selection issue

The results of the pioneer projects in Ukraine on the implementation of the temperature end-to-end monitoring systems, presented by Mr. Yan Aizenshtat, GM of 'BT9 Ukraine', as well as the system itself presented by by Mr. Ben-Tsur proved of an utmost interest for the audience

"Ukraine is one of the key markets for our company. This is why we are partaking in this conference, which is the industry #1 event and the part and parcel of our activities in Ukraine. This event is not only the platform where to discuss the urgent problems and prospects of the sector but also the opportunity to present our solution to the market players, tell of its unique features and advantages as well as find new partners for business", stressed Mr. Yan Aizenshtat

The attendees also invested much of their attention in the speech of Mr. Sergey Kondratenko, Head of Technical Department of 'Silpo' Logistics Office, who told about the systems of delivery of chilled and frozen goods, employed by the chain, and the speech of Mr. Alexander Shmelkov, CIS Project Manager at 'RNT'

Mr. Shmelkov remarked: "The cold chain logistics is one of the priority activities in our company. We have own developments and the profound experience in implementation of our own equipments in truck fleets of Russian companies in accordance with the industry standards. Ukraine's cold chain logistics market is currently evolving quite rapidly, this is why for us it is very important to go abreast with time and share our practices and innovations. And this is why we endorse this event as a Partner"

In general, the attendees of the 'Cold Chain Logistics in Ukraine' 2012 Conference recognized its format and agenda as the most successful in the whole history of the events

Next annual meeting of the leading participants of the domestic market of chilled and frozen goods logistics is scheduled for December 2013