Seafood Blast Freezer and Frozen Store for a Fishing Port

The challenge

Fishing ports often land most of their catch in a few hours, usually early in the morning, in hot and humid conditions. Fish left on the quay or in poorly iced boxes loses quality fast, and a conventional cold store cannot freeze large warm loads without warming the product already in storage.

Sites are typically coastal, with salty air that corrodes condensers and fins, and power supplies that may fluctuate. Local service capability can be limited, so equipment must be robust and repairable.

The engineered solution

Two-room layout

The blueprint separates freezing and storage. A dedicated blast freezer handles the daily batch, and a larger frozen store holds finished product until shipment. Each room has its own condensing unit, so a fault in one does not stop the other.

Blast freezer

• 150 mm PU panels with insulated, heated floor and frost-heave protection.
• High-static air coolers and baffles that force air through trolleys of trays.
• Semi-hermetic compressor selected at about −42 °C evaporating and high ambient condensing temperature.

Frozen store

• 120 mm PU panels, DJ-type evaporators with electric defrost and heated drains.
• Strip curtain and fast door discipline to limit infiltration during loading.

Coastal protection

• Coated condenser and evaporator fins where salt exposure is high.
• Shaded, ventilated condenser area with clearances for cleaning.
• Phase-failure and voltage protection on all units.

Design targets

The system is designed to freeze a 3 t batch of fish from about +10 °C to −18 °C core within 8–10 hours, depending on product size and packaging, and to hold the frozen store at −20 °C at a design ambient of up to 43 °C.

Separate refrigeration circuits are intended to keep the frozen store running during blast freezer defrost or maintenance. Final capacity, batch time and power demand are confirmed in the project-specific load calculation.

Equipment list

• 150 mm PU camlock panels for the blast freezer, 120 mm for the frozen store
• Open-type semi-hermetic piston condensing units, one per room
• High-static low-temperature air coolers with about 10–12 mm fin spacing for blast duty
• DJ-type evaporators with electric defrost for the frozen store
• FNH air-cooled condensers selected for high ambient
• Heated freezer doors, pressure relief valves, strip curtains and floor frost-heave protection

This is a reference blueprint. Final capacities and layouts are calculated for each site.