Shipping pomegranates is easier than shipping mango and harder than shipping onion. The fruit has a low respiration rate and a tough husk, so it tolerates a long sailing, but it chills below 5 C and it scalds if the air is dry. Almost every pomegranate arrival problem traces back to one of three decisions made on the loading bay: the set point, the fresh air exchange, and how the pallets were stacked and secured.
The loading numbers on a 40 ft high cube reefer
| Item | 4 kg open top | 5 kg telescopic |
|---|---|---|
| Fruit per carton | 8 to 14 | 10 to 18 |
| Cartons per layer | 8 | 8 |
| Layers per pallet | 12 to 14 | 10 to 12 |
| Pallets per container | 20 | 20 |
| Net weight per container | 7.7 to 9.0 t | 8.0 to 9.6 t |
| Carry temperature | 5 to 7 C | 5 to 7 C |
| Relative humidity | 90 to 95% | 90 to 95% |
| Fresh air exchange | 15 to 25 m3/h | 15 to 25 m3/h |
Carton counts vary between packhouses and the figures above should be confirmed against the specific carton on your order. Pomegranate cartons are heavy for their footprint, so the container reaches its payload limit long before it runs out of space. Check the gross figure against the road weight limit at the destination before agreeing the pallet height.
Why 5 to 7 C and not colder
Wonderful pomegranate suffers chilling injury below about 5 C, and the damage does not appear in Egypt. It appears as husk pitting and browning several days after discharge, when the fruit warms and the injured tissue collapses. A set point of 5 C leaves no margin for a probe reading half a degree low, so 6 C is the safer instruction on sailings beyond two weeks. Above 8 C the fruit holds fine but decay accelerates, and any latent Botrytis picked up in the orchard runs. We cover the arrival symptoms in detail in husk scald and aril breakdown on Egyptian pomegranate.
Vents, airflow and stacking
Pomegranate respires slowly, so it does not need the fresh air exchange a mango load needs. Fifteen to twenty five cubic metres per hour is enough to clear carbon dioxide without drying the air, and drying the air is the real risk: husk scald is a moisture problem before it is a temperature problem. Vents wide open on a long sailing will produce scald even at a correct set point.
On stacking, keep the pallets tight against each other so the air is forced through the cartons rather than around them, leave the T-floor channels clear, and stop the stack below the red load line at the door end. Vent holes on the carton sides must line up between layers. A pallet stacked with the cartons rotated 90 degrees on alternate layers looks more stable and blocks the vertical air path, which is why the fruit in the middle of that pallet arrives two degrees warmer than the fruit on the outside.
Pre-cool to within one degree of the set point before loading. A reefer machine is built to hold temperature, not to pull field heat out of nine tonnes of fruit, and a warm load will still be warm at the door end when the vessel sails. For variety background and sizing, see our Egyptian pomegranate export guide.
Nile Prime is an Egyptian exporter, not a neutral reviewer. Figures are working targets for the 2026/2027 season and should be confirmed per shipment.
Loading pomegranate this season? Send your destination port, carton format and required arrival week to Nile Prime on WhatsApp at +20 10 9911 1918 and we will confirm the pallet plan, set point and sailing options.