Belt Conveyor System Empowers Seafood Cold Chain: Efficiency Upgrade Case of a Japanese 10,000-Ton Seafood Processing Enterprise

1. Project Background

A large-scale seafood processing enterprise in Japan processes more than 20,000 tons of seafood products annually, specializing in export-grade frozen products such as frozen shrimp, cut hairtail, and shellfish. Its products are widely exported to markets across Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Europe, and America.

2. Challenges of the Original Production Line

Before the upgrade, the company relied on a traditional production model combining belt conveyors and manual material transfer. However, in the -30°C frozen processing workshop, the production line frequently encountered problems such as:

• Belt cracking caused by extremely low temperatures
• Material adhesion and residue accumulation
• Risk of foreign matter contamination

These issues resulted in frequent unplanned downtime and made it difficult to meet strict international food safety certification requirements for export products.Meanwhile, the production capacity remained limited at only 3 tons per hour, preventing the company from handling the surge in orders during the fishing season.

3. Upgrade Strategy

In 2025, the company launched a comprehensive production line upgrade project. After multiple rounds of industry research, technical evaluations, and on-site testing, it finally selected our customized low-temperature-resistant food-grade mesh belt conveyor system.The upgraded conveying solution covers the entire processing workflow, from raw material feeding and cleaning to freezing and cooling, providing continuous and efficient transportation throughout the seafood processing process.

4. Customized Solution

Based on the unique operating conditions of frozen seafood transportation, we provided a comprehensive scenario-based solution with the following customized improvements:

1. Low-Temperature Resistant and Corrosion-Resistant Materials

The entire conveyor system adopts a 316L food-grade stainless steel mesh belt, enabling stable long-term operation in extreme environments as low as -35°C.The material also provides excellent resistance to seawater and salt corrosion, completely eliminating the risks of traditional belts cracking, peeling, and causing foreign matter contamination under low-temperature conditions.

2. Breathable Structure for Faster Freezing

The mesh belt features a 40% open-area mesh structure, allowing cold air to directly penetrate the products from underneath the conveyor.This design increases the freezing speed of products such as shrimp and shellfish by 25%, significantly reduces freezer burn and moisture loss, and achieves freshness preservation performance far exceeding industry standards.

3. Residue-Free and Hygienic Design

The edges of the mesh belt are processed with rounded polishing treatment, eliminating dead corners where residues may accumulate.Combined with an automatic online spray cleaning system, the entire conveyor can be sanitized after each production shift without manual disassembly, making it easier for the facility to pass international food safety certifications such as HACCP and BRC.

4. Space-Efficient Layout Optimization

Without increasing the existing workshop footprint, we redesigned the overall production layout and extended the effective conveying length to 60 meters.This enabled the customer to achieve production expansion without additional factory construction.

5. Project Results

After 12 months of operation, the upgraded conveyor system delivered significant improvements in production performance:

• Seafood processing capacity increased from 3 tons/hour to 10 tons/hour, with annual production capacity exceeding 30,000 tons. Delivery cycles during the fishing season were shortened by 40%.
• Unplanned downtime in the conveying process decreased from an average of 22 hours per month to less than 1 hour, with equipment failure rates below 0.2%. The company reduced annual maintenance-related downtime losses by more than RMB 600,000.
• Frozen product moisture loss decreased from 3.2% to 1.5%. Based on an annual processing volume of at least 20,000 tons, the company reduced raw material losses by approximately 340 tons per year, generating nearly RMB 3 million in additional economic benefits.
• The company successfully passed strict audits for export food production enterprises and secured more long-term overseas orders with higher added value.

The company’s production manager commented:

"This mesh belt conveyor system has completely solved the biggest challenges in our low-temperature workshop, including belt breakage and foreign matter contamination. It has not only increased our production capacity and reduced losses but also ensured that our product quality consistently meets export standards. It is one of the highest-return production line upgrade projects we have invested in in recent years."

Future Development

Moving forward, we will continue optimizing conveyor solutions for specialized seafood cold chain applications and provide more seafood processing enterprises with complete solutions ranging from individual conveyor equipment to integrated production line systems.Through continuous innovation, we aim to support the seafood industry’s transformation toward higher efficiency, greater standardization, and smarter production.