Twenty years of cold chain

Due to the special circumstances of the pandemic, many things were delayed, and a major event that had been circulating in the industry since the end of last year has re-emerged into the public eye during this hottest period of summer.

Panhu City Central Fishing Port Economic Zone.

The previous Panhu Demonstration Port was only a small component, mainly addressing storage and transportation issues in a small area. The Panhu Central Fishing Port Economic Zone, however, shoulders numerous missions, including radiation, linkage, and distribution, and has been designated a strategic major service industry project by Panhu City.

Hu Shutong, who hadn't logged into online communities for a long time, saw more than ten private messages. The most recent one contained only one sentence: "You can still fall for this? You'd better be careful in everything you do from now on."

This person was the mysterious freezer owner whom we hadn't been in contact with for a long time.

Upon seeing this message and checking the time it was sent, Hu Shutong immediately understood. He had heard from Lin Xiang that during the Bingneng incident, a mysterious person from Panhu Demonstration Port had made a large-scale purchase of refrigerated trucks and agreed to jointly put pressure on Bingneng. At the time, Hu Shutong thought it was the force mobilized by his teacher, but he never expected that the person who offered help was a refrigeration expert he had never met.

Hu Shutong didn't know much about Leng Zangjia, only that he was a professional who focused on aquatic products. But on the other hand, the other party seemed to know him very well, and had done things quietly through Lin Xiang. It was clear that Leng Zangjia was quite capable in the Panhu and Panzhu areas.

Scrolling back further, one finds long passages from Leng Zangjia, who had already conceived a blueprint for "demonstration port first, economic zone on the way." Hu Shutong greeted him, but to his surprise, a large number of planning maps and overview documents arrived just over ten minutes later.

A grand chapter officially came into Hu Shutong's view.

The Panhu Central Fishing Port Economic Zone has a total planned area of ​​15 square kilometers, enclosing a 7-square-kilometer sea area. Construction has begun on a 5000-ton-class, six-berth wharf, nine main roads within the economic zone, and 250,000 square meters of green space. The core economic zone has a two-year planning period, with formal construction expected to commence in 2006.

Panhu City's superior location and the massive scale of its economic zone, which integrates deep-sea fishing, aquaculture, seafood processing, seafood trade, and cold chain logistics, will radiate to North China, Northeast China, and East China, and will also reach overseas markets in the future. This is of milestone significance for the process of Chinese aquatic products going global!

Following that, the cold storage expert presented Hu Shutong with three of the seven functions of the economic zone: the aquatic product trade zone, the aquatic product processing zone, and the cold storage zone.

Immediately, the refrigeration company, in a pleading tone, solicited a complex and massive request from Hu Shutong—the three-district planning proposal. Upon first hearing these five words, Hu Shutong was completely stunned. Sometimes, it's not the "what to do" that's scary, but the "let's see how it goes" that's frightening. The matter that the refrigeration company was asking of him, without exaggeration, squeezed Hu Shutong's knowledge to its limit.

The trade zone, processing zone, and warehousing zone are the heart of the entire fishing port economic zone, upon which many stages from fishing to sales rely. The three-zone plan includes, but is not limited to, the zoning of the trade zone, the assembly line of the processing zone, and the low-temperature construction of the warehousing zone. In other words, Hu Shutong has free rein to design according to his own ideas.

The cold storage expert frankly stated that there is no precedent for such a large-scale aquatic product base in Taiwan, and there is zero practical experience to draw upon. The Economic Zone Planning Commission mobilized talents from all walks of life, from the fish unloading dock supply to the three zones, and then to the aquatic product testing center and fish culture exhibition center, pooling wisdom from across the country, striving to ultimately present an aquatic product flagship that combines practicality and demonstration.

The three-zone planning proposal was not only submitted to Hu Shutong; various universities, research institutes, and industry technology R&D centers in Panhu and Panzhu were also preparing to submit their proposals. The author, familiar with Hu Shutong's background, noted that his graduation thesis revealed many internationally-minded perspectives, which led to this "bidding" process.

If Hu Shutong's proposal is adopted, or even partially adopted, he will receive different levels of technical funding depending on the circumstances.

Hu Shutong, sitting in front of his computer, couldn't help but smile bitterly. The events in the southern suburbs were still chasing after him like a black whirlwind. He communicated with the refrigeration company about the timeframe and received the answer of "three months," which greatly relieved Hu Shutong.

Technically speaking, Hu Shutong was confident in completing this three-zone project. Since five years ago, Luan Pingxin had been sending him academic papers from foreign journals and various drawings. Hu Shutong probably had more up-to-date and comprehensive information on how aquatic ports in many European countries were built than that of a typical research center.

Moreover, from the southern suburbs, Hu Shutong also learned about the overall coordination of the supporting facilities within large industrial parks. With the word "chain" in mind, this time it is essentially about solving the problems of upstream and downstream, integrating the origin, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, and distribution. No matter how it changes, it remains true to this essence.

Who is the refrigeration expert? What is his identity? Hu Shutong became increasingly curious.

Moreover, this matter is of great significance, with funding and policy support. It is a pioneering move and a benchmark for the cold chain industry. Technical talents in the industry have an unshirkable responsibility to help the cold chain move towards modernization. Hu Shutong believes that this is a platform that many people yearn for.

The two exchanged phone numbers and finally no longer had to wait for that little red envelope on the page.

Instead of making a phone call, the refrigerated family sent Hu Shutong a text message a moment later. When Hu Shutong opened it, he was surprised to find a sense of warmth in it.

"Old Hu, give it your all, I'm rooting for you!"

"See the plan in three months."

Leaning back in his chair, Hu Shutong crossed his arms, and a multitude of thoughts began to rapidly gather in his mind. Where to start, where to find the materials, where to draw upon what he had seen before, the interconnected systems within the three zones, and how to quickly complement other functions—these flashes of ideas seemed to transport him back to the scene of writing a thesis outline.

To be precise, yet not quite the same. Back then, he was at best an outstanding "greenhorn," someone who thought a lot, saw a lot, and practiced a lot on paper. But now, he not only has hands-on experience in assembly warehouses and micro-warehouses, but also the advanced technologies brought to him by the food safety laboratory, as well as solid experience in materials, equipment, and overall planning in the southern suburbs.

When he thinks about things, he becomes more concrete and comprehensive. These two aspects are not contradictory, and he has a kind of accurate foresight like a chess player who thinks three steps ahead.

Speaking of the materials in the southern suburbs, the meeting with Yu Dajun can no longer be delayed. It's not that Hu Shutong is dragging things out, but that Yu Dajun is no longer the person you can accurately find in the construction site's prefab house.

The two spoke on the phone several times and finally agreed to meet tonight.

……

I've loved cold chain logistics for twenty years.