Feb 28, 2005 9:21 AM, from staff and wire reports

Bellevue WA-based Coldwall Inc has signed a formal testing agreement with Exportadora Rio Blanco Ltda, a leading Chilean table grape processor and exporter based in Santiago, Chile.

The in-situ trials at Rio Blanco’s cold storage facilities will bear out recent simulations for “hot-loading” table grapes conducted at Coldwall’s Richmond, British Columbia-based laboratory. Hot-loading is a process that enables processors and exporters to skip the pre-shipment cooling stage in cold storage facilities.

“This is a continuation of our commercialization strategy, which involves Coldwall working closely with various large-scale producers and shippers of perishable cargos. The ability to bypass pre-shipment cooling is of substantial economic benefit for producers,” said Robert Dale, Coldwall president and chief executive officer.