If you have a reliable freight forwarder, such as Europartners Group, yes! We make the globalization of gastronomy possible!

People all over the world are madly in love with the Japanese and the Mexican cultures. A little more than 6.7 thousand miles away from each other, both countries share some features that are quite similar, such as the kindness of their people and the excellency of their cuisine.

In 2010, Mexican food entered UNESCO’s list of Cultural Heritage of Humanity. As a result, all around the world people consume Mexican food! Even in Japan!

Can you imagine a Japanese guy or a girl, in a cozy Tokyo home, enjoying a nice taco made with original Mexican fresh flour tortilla? We, in Europartners Group, have had the joy of making this globalization dream come true!

From Nuevo Leon to Japan

The smell of a good hot udon fulfills the hearts of the Japanese cuisine fans with love, right? Likewise, the challenge of transporting a perishable bulk cargo loaded with 2 tons of flour tortillas from northern Mexico (Nuevo Leon) to Tokyo filled our Europartners Group logistics experts with joy!

Today we’ll tell you one of the most exciting challenges we’ve ever faced on the perishables area: transporting 240 boxes of tortillas in the best possible way, since it is quite known that one of the essential characteristics of the Japanese people is how strict they are with the quality of their consumer goods, specially food.

A surgery

The operation to move a perishable cargo from a plant to a transport unit must be surgical.

There is a temperature range (in today’s story, we had it from -22°C to -18°C) which must be preserved all the way to Japan, from storage to destination, from the ground transportation to the airport, the customs handling and the flight between both countries.

An entire team of competent and experienced professionals must take charge of several bureaucratic requirements before loading the product to an aircraft and sending it to its destination. It’s almost as complicated as an open-heart surgery!

Big decisions and meticulous details

The long trip of the tortillas started by ground transportation, from Nuevo Leon to Mexico City, in units prepared to handle the temperature requirements.

To take the tortillas from Mexico to Japan, the best option was by air freight.

Our talents’ experience was decisive when negotiating the best rate with one of our partner airlines, strategic and specialized in the route Mexico-Japan, with a great expertise handling refrigerated cargo, both for perishables and for pharmaceutical loads, which also require a very specific temperature control.

Also, our team worked hard to get the special containers and other specific insulating materials for temperature control.

Coordinating the airline tasks

With all the documentation in our hands and the cargo on its way to Mexico City’s International Airport (MEX), we started to align operations with our air freight partner.

• Getting electricity for the container
• Activating the temperature measurement parameters
• Having the bunker where the dry ice is placed ready
• Preparing and cleaning the interior of the container
• Usually, the containers are used by the pharmaceutical industry

Always on top of any situation

At the same time, our surgical team of logistical talents made sure that all the details were under control.

“Our main challenge was to ensure the cold chain was never broken, as handling the goods in customs and ground transportation required a lot of care to maintain the temperature,” explains Victor Rueda, our specialist in perishables at Europartners Group.

The shipment was sent around the 15^th of September, Mexico’s national day, so we imagine many Mexican and Japanese hermanos celebrating the belly button of the world, together, in the land of the rising sun!

Fun facts:

• With 2 tons of tortilla, a good chef can make between 27,000 and 54,000 tacos (depending on whether the taco is “simple” or “synchronized”).
• The batteries used in the refrigerated containers are the D types, the same ones used in lanterns, remote control toy cars and trains, and baby strollers.
  • • The airline is responsible for suppling the batteries. They can keep the container refrigerated for 48-72 hours!
• There are two types of dry ice for containers: plate or “nugget”.
  • • On this load, 200kg of dry ice plates were used, with two 50kg refills in connection and destination points.
• Mexico is known as “the belly button of the world”. Japan, as “the land of the rising sun”.

Do you trade perishable products, and do you need a reliable freight forwarder to send your wonders all over the world? Contact us now and let’s make your dreams a reality!