Integrated Reefer News | Page 3 Continuing our sustainability initiatives Last year, we reported on innovative measures we had taken in response to an ambitious plan from the Chinese government to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases generated by manufacturing industries. Since then, we have moved on considerably. For example, MCI Qingdao is actively working on the implementation of a new box pre-treatment line. This will involve harsh processes like shot blasting and zinc metallizing becoming fully automated. As well as improving quality and boosting throughput, this will mean that the relevant workers will be able to avoid demanding and potentially risky tasks and can concentrate instead on quality control and line output. Back in December 2019, we at MCI reached an ambitious milestone by implementing a VOC treatment system and reducing our emissions to meet the requirements of the new Chinese government regulations. In fact, we were able to move extremely quickly and already had our emissions well below the maximum permitted level by the time they came into force in January 2020. This action involved an investment of 8 million USD. Building on success Not content with what we achieved back then, we have continued to pursue an active policy of emissions reduction. In September 2020, MCIQ (Qingdao) implemented several changes related to emissions created by trucks and forklifts. At the same time, our new VOC treatment system led to us being awarded Level B The VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) facility already established is reducing the plant’s CO 2 emissions by 1,000 tonnes a year The new box pre-treatment line is currently under construction at MCI Qingdao status in the “Performance Classification Management in Key Industries Heavy Pollution Weather” guidelines issued by Shandong Province. We value this new status as recognition of our successful efforts in the past and will make every effort to ensure that we continue to comply with relevant regulations on an ongoing basis. Although the new standards relate primarily to so- called ‘pollution alarm days’, we see no reason not to make constant emissions reduction part of our core activities. Where next? Because we have stayed ahead of the game and have not been obliged to expend a lot of effort playing catch-up, we have had the time to work on our strategic approach to emissions generally. One area that we have long been working on is the search for low-VOC coatings that can provide the same level of functionality and protection offered by traditional systems but without the negative aspects. Right now, we are actively testing several promising products with the goal of further improving our sustainability performance. The ultimate aim is to find the most workable solution to safeguard the quality and life cycle of our reefer containers while complying with – or even exceeding – the relevant environmental requirements issued by the authorities. Practical steps While we continue the search for new coating technologies, we are intensifying our efforts in terms of creating a better environment for our workers while improving product quality. For our new box pre-treatment line, we expect the net result to be not just a reduced workload, especially regarding tough tasks, but an increase in both quality and output. This is 3rd generation of automated pretreatment. The accumulated learnings and developments at MCI will secure a state of the art solution. So it really is going to be a win- win outcome for our staff and for our customers. The new production building is currently being constructed and we expect that the equipment will be installed and ready for commissioning by September of 2021. The cost of this project will be around 14 million USD.
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