This year, we celebrate 130 years from the first transport of refrigerated goods, the anniversary being partially shadowed by today’s deadlock in the transport of perishable goods which disappeared from many European countries. In addition, the development of the first service of perishable goods transport was the result of a cooperation between a private investor from outside the railway market, a private railway operator, an inventor and the American State, more precisely between the private environment, research & development and the authorities, a concept as threatened as the transport of perishable goods itself. The first attempts for the railway transport of perishable goods date back from 1842 and consist in filling wood wagons with ice which limited the weight of cargo loads. At the middle of the 19th century, Chicago was the world’s largest knot for the transport of live animals. Meat processors would seek for innovative means of transporting meat without damaging it. One of them, Gustavus Swift, the establisher of a real empire based on meat processing, has employed an inventor named Andrew Chase to find a solution for preserving meat on long-distance transports, from Chicago to Canada. In 1878, Chase developed a wagon equipped with an efficient refrigeration system, considered the first isotherm wagon in the world, which enables the easy load of ice (through the top board of the wagon) and the appropriate cold air circulation. Swift tried to attract strong partners for his newest business but failed to persuade them to believe in the opportunities of the new system. He finally decided to develop the service by himself with the help of a small operator, Peninsular Car Company (PCC). In 1880, the system served the route between Chicago and localities in Michigan. By coincidence, in the same year of 1880, the patent for the first wagon with a mechanical refrigeration system was issued, the invention of Charles William Cooper. Swift Refrigerator Line (SRL) was the name of the service which was an instant hit. Its success was also justified by the contribution of the American State which dropped the concession charges for those lines on which refrigerated goods where carried in order to take long-term advantage of the new invention. This convinced new perishable goods operators to access the market and allowed Chicago to maintain its position of leader on the world’s market of food transport for a long time. Thus, the story of the first transport of perishable goods remains a model for contemporaneous railway and food industry investors. The railway transport of perishable goods has reached its peak in the interwar period. In 1930, there were 183,000 isotherm wagons in the USA, most of meat products, fruits and other perishable goods being carried on rails. The system also attracted the development of another industry, that of ice manufacturing, until the replacement of ice with other substances that ensured load refrigeration.
by Alin Lupulescu
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