Every year at this time, Chilean cherries take center stage on festive dining tables with their vibrant appearance, plump flesh, and delightfully sweet taste. Behind this seasonal phenomenon lies the full-journey assurance of an intelligent cold chain.

As the fresh aroma of the new cherry season once again drifts toward China, container fleets under COSCO SHIPPING Holdings’ dual brands, fully loaded with premium fruit, fulfilled their commitments as scheduled aboard the “Cherry Express.” After crossing more than 20,000 kilometers of open ocean, the Volga arrived smoothly in Shanghai on December 26.

This successful “fresh” voyage not only marks the opening of a new chapter for the 2025–2026 Cherry Express season, but also validates the maturity and reliability of BoxPlus intelligent reefer container solutions. From the original launch of IBOX Reefer to the deep-sea maiden voyage of IBOX Vessel, the IBOX family has consistently empowered its long-standing users—COSCO SHIPPING Container Lines and OOCL—with continuously evolving digital intelligence, witnessing the dual brands’ leap from technological breakthroughs to industry leadership in cold-chain shipping.

Looking back two years, the lack of communication signals and broken monitoring links during deep-sea voyages had long constrained the quality of high-value fresh cargo transportation. For cherries—non-climacteric fruit—freshness preservation depends critically on constant low temperatures, stable humidity, and real-time monitoring.

In February 2024, the COSCO Brazil, equipped with IBOX Vessel, successfully completed the industry’s first deep-sea reefer container maiden voyage and berthed safely. This wireless system, which truly enables automated, ship-wide reefer monitoring, is natively compatible with IBOX Reefer smart containers for instant onboard connectivity. At the same time, through the plug-and-play mobile data collector XiaohaiStar (BPVF), it seamlessly connects traditional reefers, transmitting key data such as temperature, humidity, and refrigeration unit operating status in real time to both the ship’s monitoring room and cloud platform.

This milestone marked BoxPlus’s successful breakthrough of a long-standing industry bottleneck, laying a solid technological foundation of end-to-end visibility for the Cherry Express.

From San Antonio Port in Chile to ports in China, across half the globe, carriers and cargo owners can maintain full visibility of reefer container conditions throughout the voyage, receiving timely alerts of potential risks. This not only reduces the cost and safety risks of manual inspections for crew members, but also delivers ultimate quality protection for high-value fresh produce—ensuring that every cherry arrives at consumers’ tables with the crisp sweetness of being “just picked.”

Compared with the single-vessel breakthrough two years ago, IBOX Vessel has now entered large-scale deployment. It has been installed and put into operation on multiple vessels under COSCO SHIPPING’s dual brands (including COSCO Argentina, COSCO Aqaba, OOCL Bauhinia, OOCL Sunflower, among others), while also helping other shipping lines unlock new paradigms in cold-chain transportation.

Compatible with a wide range of vessel types—from 14K to 16K and up to 24K TEU container ships—IBOX Vessel has achieved over 70 vessels delivered or confirmed in orders to date, becoming a core solution for shipping lines to enhance service capabilities for high-value cargo owners.

Today, one out of every four Chilean cherries imported into China is carried by COSCO SHIPPING, backed by the solid support of the IBOX product family as it evolves from maiden-voyage validation to scaled deployment.

From single-vessel breakthroughs to multi-route networks, from basic monitoring to full-chain empowerment, the IBOX family continues to safeguard the Cherry Express as a global benchmark for cold-chain logistics, showcasing BoxPlus’s strong capabilities in advancing logistics digitalization and leading high-quality industry development.

Follow BoxPlus to witness more breakthroughs in logistics digital innovation—and join us in shaping a cold-chain future where freshness knows no bounds.