Klinge Corp invited to post on Intermodal Europe’s blog
Intermodal Europe invited Klinge Corporation to prepare a piece for their new blog entitled “The Future of Intermodalism” which serves as a forum for industry figures to post their thoughts on the current state of the intermodal industry. Intermodal Europe is the world’s leading exhibition and conference for all companies associated with the container and intermodal industries.
Allan Klinge, M. Ed., CAPM, serves as Senior Project Manager for Klinge Corporation. Allan manages large government and commercial contracts for special refrigerated transportation equipment. He holds a bachelor’s from Dartmouth College and a graduate degree from Harvard University.
With the International Monetary Fund reporting that the global economic recovery is slowing, the Klinge’s contend that one way companies are looking to reduce costs is to shift to transport by container ship instead of expensive air shipment.
In the pharmaceutical industry, companies are looking to transport their cold chain supplies in redundant refrigerated containers and freezer equipment such as those provided by Klinge Corporation. In the past, pharmaceutical companies did not want to risk losing their cargo due to the high value of the goods. With numerous fail-safes in place, Klinge Corporation’s equipment provides the ultimate peace of mind when shipping expensive and temperature-sensitive goods.
Sarah Klinge, CAPM, is the Marketing Manager for Klinge Corporation. Sarah is responsible for managing and coordinating marketing activities and developing and executing marketing plans and programmes. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College.
Sarah and Allan Klinge also discussed in their piece that the seafood industry is investing in freezing equipment as a way to reduce costs. Food processing companies and logistics providers across the globe are turning to freezing equipment instead of air-shipping fresh seafood. Studies have shown that freezing to an ultra-low temperature using Klinge Corp’s Deep Freezer does not compromise color, texture, or taste. In fact, freezing seafood to an ultra-low temperature increases shelf-life and matches the characteristics of fresh seafood.
Read more of Sarah and Allan’s piece on the Future of Intermodalism.
Intermodal Europe 2010 Under Snow!
Snow, freezing weather, and high winds did not deter professionals from attending Intermodal Europe 2010. Held from 30 Nov to 2 Dec at the Amsterdam RAI in The Netherlands, thousands of businessmen and women from 80 countries across the globe braced the severe weather to attend the invaluable container transport and maritime logistics industry event.
In fact, with over 4,730 attendees, Intermodal Europe had the highest number of total visitors in over 10 years.
The success of the show was attributed to the high quality of exhibitors and speakers and the launching of new industry products.
Klinge Corporation President, Henrik Klinge, remarked: “This year’s Intermodal provided us with a great opportunity to introduce our new Food Storage Bins for ISO containers and to also give a presentation to industry professionals on the rules and regulations for the transport of hazardous goods.”
The Paul Klinge Legacy
This year’s Intermodal show also had personal significance to Henrik Klinge. Nearly 20 years ago, Henrik exhibited at his first Intermodal alongside his father, Paul Klinge. Since then, the father and son team exhibited at the show across Europe, accompanied by Henrik’s mother Else Klinge. Sadly, Paul passed away in February 2010, though he will forever leave a mark on the reefer container industry. Paul received a Lifetime Achievement award for services to the reefer container industry at Intermodal in 2004. This award was presented to him by Robert Jervis, leading organizer of transport and logistics events.
The tradition has continued with Henrik’s son, Allan, joining Klinge Corporation. At Intermodal 2010 in Amsterdam, the father and son team, alongside Else, proudly represented the company started by Paul. As always, the Klinge’s welcomed visitors with their Danish Christmas beer and the traditional Danish bitter Gammeldansk.
Paul and Else Klinge at Intermodal 2008 (grandson Allan also pictured at the podium)
Australia Defense Force Production starts at Klinge Corporation
“After 3 years of design, testing, and preparing associated documentation, Klinge Corporation and their subcontractor in China are building the first set of 10′ refrigerated containers. We have jumped over sime hurdles during this project–including paint import regulations and bumped shipments–and brings our company tremendous joy to see the equipment being built.”
Project Manager, Allan Klinge, just returned from Qingdao, China to oversee the application of paint to the ISO containers. Chemical Agent Resistant Coating (CARC) resists the absorption of chemical warfare agents and is used by miltary forces around the world since CARC makes decontamination much easier to accomplish. At the container factory, Mr. Klinge met a paint expert from the paint manufacturer for guidance on surface preparation and applying the paint (primer application, topcoat application, camouflage painting, etc). They encountered one small problem–the paint was being held by customs!
Fortunately, Mr. Klinge and the container manufacturer managed to get one bucket of each type of paint so that training could be conducted over the weekend. Mr. Klinge, the container paint staff, and the paint expert worked tirelessly late into the night after the line closed down.
Mr. Klinge said: “While it was not the Saturday night I was expecting, delivery of the samples was a huge relief because it allowed us to oversee the first paint application within the project timeline. You can see from the photos that doing the ‘night shift’ alongside the paint expert, paint applicators, QC inspectors, and paint engineers was quite a lot of fun!”
Pictured here is Klinge Corporation Project Manager, Allan Klinge, the paint expert hired by the Australian Defense Force, and the container manufacturer paint engineer. What a team!
Klinge at Modern Day Marine 2010
Klinge Corp's Collapsible Food Storage Bin for ISO containers
The Modern Day Marine Exposition serves as the premier equipment, services and technology exposition. The expo is more than a show. It provides industries producing the equipment with the opportunity to showcase their new products and speak with Marines of all ranks about what works, what doesn’t work and what they would like to see.
- Klinge Corp’s Exhibit at Modern Day Marine
Warfighter’s Corner
This year’s expo focused on forging a partnership between service members from every branch and companies in order to provide superior, reliable products. The event featured a ‘Warfighter’s Corner’ which provided the defense industry with the unique opportunity to hear first-hand stories of how soldiers were equipped and the performance of equipment. The soldiers also shared their recommendations on how the industry might better existing equipment or develop new equipment.
Klinge Introduces New Collapsible Food Storage Bins, Fully Tested to Military Standards
Providing reliable equipment that meets the needs of the soldiers using the equipment is a priority of Klinge Corporation. After decades of working with all branches of the military from all over the world, Klinge Corporation prides itself on providing reliable equipment that meets the soldier’s requirements on the field and technical requirements from engineers procuring the equipment. One example of this is our Food Storage Bins for ISO Containers designed for the Australian Defense Force.
After more than three years of design, testing, and constant feedback from the end-user (i.e. the soldier) Klinge Corporation introduced their Food Storage Bins to the defense industry at Modern Day Marine. Klinge Corp met with representatives from Combat Equipment and Support Services, the group tasked with developing, acquiring, integrating, and managing the life cycle of combat equipment and support systems. Made of polypropylene, the FSB offers a rugged and reliable solution that meets the technical, physical and testing requirements specified by the Australian Defence Force. Our Food Storage Bins were designed and qualified to a multitude of military standards such as Transit Drop, Vibration, Thermal Shock, Stacking/Leakage, and High Temperature. With fold down flaps, soldiers are able to quickly and easily unload and load food into the bins when stacked. Six of the FSBs fit inside a 10 ft insulated container and eighteen fit inside a 20 ft insulated container. The FSB collapses to a height of 309 mm (12 in), allowing nearly three of the collapsed FSBs on a return trip to be transported in the space of one.
The Food Storage Bins serve as part of Klinge Corporation’s Cold Chain Solution for the Australian Defense Force’s Defence Material Organisation. Klinge Corporation is providing 185 Refrigerated Containers (single and multi-temperature) in addition to 1500 Food Storage Bins to replace the Australian Defense Force’s current field refrigeration distribution and storage system.
Report to Industry
Klinge Corporation was invited to attend a meeting led by the Commanding General of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Commanding General of Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, Program Executive of Land Systems, and the Executive Director of Marine Corps Systems Command. During the meeting the core mission, challenges, and priorities of the Marine Corps were discussed. The speakers highlighted the Corps focus on increased competition, noting that companies that have historically won contracts will not be guaranteed future contract awards. The presenters also focused on cost reduction through fuel, power and energy efficiency as well as reducing non-productive processes.
Some Relief for Haiti
Six months after the catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti, the country looks as if the quake just hit. Homes, schools, hospitals and businesses were reduced to rubble. An estimated 230,000 people lost their lives, 300,000 were injured, and 1,000,000 were made homeless by the catastrophic quake. At one point, nearly 1/4 of the population was displaced. Now, more than 1.5 million people remain in temporary encampments.
The quake could not have hit at a worst time. The crime rate was dropping, nutrition levels were improving, and the country was becoming more stable. It would be unthinkable to undo the progress that Haiti had made in the last couple of years.
Unfortunately, humanitarian and aid agencies are reporting that they are being stretched thin. Making matters worse is the impending hurricane season. Rebuilding the country must now take a back seat to protecting the people.
In an effort to assist with preparation for the upcoming hurricane season, Klinge Corporation has partnered with Astrotech Space Operations to donate a Refrigerated Container System and external Generator Set to an orphanage in Haiti. The 20-foot Refrigerated Container System will be used to store food and medical supplies. The external generator set will be used to power the refrigeration unit in case of loss of power during hurricanes or other emergency situations.
Air Mobile Ministries has also assisted in the effort, providing transportation of the equipment from Klinge’s facility in Pennsylvania to Astrotech in Florida free of charge. Visit their website http://airmobile.org/index.html for information on how you can help the people of Haiti and other disaster victims.
Klinge Corporation is pleased to offer some support to this suffering nation and will continue to do so. The situation in Haiti may be out of the spotlight, however we urge everyone to continue in their aid and relief efforts.
Refrigerated Container System will be used to store food and medicine for Haitian Orphanage
External Generator Set will be used to power up the refrigeration unit during emergency situations.
Operation Deep Freeze
Blake's view for 48 hours: the back of a Klinge container carrying ice cores.
Blizzards, rock slides, and jack-knifed trailers. Those are just a few of the issues Klinge Corporation Project Manager, Blake Stabley, encountered during his trek from Port Hueneme, California to the National Ice Core Laboratory. Blake was tailing Klinge refrigerated containers that were carrying millions of dollars worth of ice cores.
Klinge Corporation was asked to design and produce equipment for the transport of ice cores. BBC news reported that “global climate patterns stretching back 740,000 years have been confirmed by a three-kilometre-long ice core drilled from the Antarctic.” These ice cores play an important role in revealing what we know so far about the history of climate.
Given the high value of the ice cores, Klinge’s customer asked that someone accompany the containers from Port Hueneme, California to the National Ice Core Laboratory in Denver, Colorado. Seeing as Blake Stabley was the project lead, he was eager to see the project through and make the trek with the containers to Denver.
Jack-Knifed Trailor! Blake was very happy to have waited out the snow.
Little did he know that it would end up being quite an adventure and, not to mention, long! ”I do remember the sinking feeling when they said a rock slide changed the route and added 6 hours to the trip. Little did I know that a 6 hour delay was nothing til it was all said and done,” Blake exclaimed. “This picture is a tractor trailer jack-knifed the morning after our truckers chose not to continue driving through the night, because the unexpected snowfall made it a safety issue. They made the right choice.”
The ice cores have arrived!
In spite of the long drive, extreme weather, and no sleep, Blake understood the importance of his role in preserving the ice cores and helping to advance climate research. “Seeing 45 skids of ice in the lab, knowing that it is the most important ice in the world, and our units protected it halfway around the world was a pretty good feeling.”
Not Your Average Cruise…
American Tern unloading containers at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
- Pictured here is Tony on board the American Tern, which makes resupply voyages to McMurdo Station in Antarctica and Thule Air Base in Greenland. The vessel is named after the Tern, a species of bird that makes annual migrations from the Arctic to the Antarctices of bird.
Klinge Corporation was awarded contracts to design and manufacture refrigerated container systems for the transport of ice core samples.
An ice core can be used to reconstruct an uninterrupted and detailed climate record extending over hundreds of thousands of years. It provides information on a wide variety of aspects of climate at each point in time., which makes ice cores such a powerful tool in paleoclimate research.
It was a great honor for the Engineers, Project Managers, and Production staff to be entrusted with the transport of several million dollars worth of ice core samples collected from Antarctica.
From the intense core drilling process at the main arch, to flying the ice to McMurdo Station on the coast of Antarctica, to the coordination of a ship from half way around the world, the importance of these ice cores was never in question,” said KC’s Project Manager, Allan Klinge.
Due to the high value and extreme temperature sensitivity of the ice cores samples, it was requested that a seasoned reefer technician accompany the Klinge Container Systems from New Zealand back to the US on the off chance that any maintenance needed to be done. Tony Strine, Klinge Corp’s Service Manager, was the obvious choice for his expertise and experience.
Tony met up with the American Tern in Christ Church, New Zealand, after a tiring and long journey from York, Pennsylvania in the US. Unfortunately, his trip was about to become that much longer! Tony was to embark on month-long sea voyage from Christ Church to Port Hueneme, California. The American Tern had just gotten into Christ Church after picking up the scientifically-critical ice cores from Antarctica. We hoped Tony would not encounter any sea sickness along the way!
Saved from any container emergency, Tony finally made it back to Port Hueneme, California (countless movies and solitaire games later!).
Klinge Containers at Port Hueneme, right after being offloaded from the American Tern.
Klinge Containers being lifted onto the American Tern
Klinge Containers ‘Launched’ at Kennedy Space Center
Tony at Kennedy Space Center
Klinge won a new lease contract with the US space program to deliver explosion proof refrigeration units to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The containers will be used to store hazardous materials. “It’s not very often we get to work along-side space shuttles,” Service Manager Tony Strine said. “I felt honored that our company was chosen to store these vital yet hazardous materials safe. These materials play a role in maintaining Americas shuttles.”
The refrigeration systems guard contents against fire with manual and pneumatic dry chemical fire suppression systems suitable for Class 1, Division 1 and 2, Groups C & D hazardous materials. Tony conducted a training course on the fire suppression system and the units themselves.
Klinge Containers at Kennedy Space Center
Klinge Around the World
Klinge Corporation is a family-owned business that was founded in 1984 as a spin-off of York Borg Warner. Company President, Henrik Klinge, began his career in the transport refrigeration industry in the early 70′s as a test engineer and installer and working closely with his late father, Paul Klinge. In the late 70′s, Henrik was appointed as the Danish member of the ISO committee to develop, draft and obtain approval for the ISO standard 1496-2 for refrigerated containers as well as ISO 10368 for standardization of the remote monitoring of reefer containers onboard oceangoing vessels.
Both Paul and Henrik travelled extensively as the global agents for York Borg Warner’s marine transport division—a business they would later purchase and rename as Klinge Corporation. Following this acquisition, Paul remained in Denmark to manage other businesses (eventually being officially recognized by the Danish government for his contributions to trade in that country), and Henrik came to the U.S. to run Klinge, a company which does more than 85% of its business outside the U.S.
Henrik’s globetrotting days continued at Klinge and his dedication to our customers and willingness to follow the product to the ends of the earth is a trait shared by the many outstanding employees at Klinge Corporation. Klinge Corp staff has endured a month-long journey with ice cores on a vessel bound from New Zealand to California, faced jack-knifed trailors just to see containers through to their final destination, and worked on containers right next to NASA space shuttles.
The inspiration behind this blog is to tell the story of the experiences of our staff in pursuit of providing our customers with exceptional service, quality worksmanship, and integrity.
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