Melon 1 Partners with CHEP to Increase Sustainability and Meet Seasonal Demand

• America’s largest watermelon producer chooses CHEP’s pallet storage program for greater availability and efficiency
• For the first time, Melon 1 uses CHEP’s pooled (shared) pallets for inbound international shipments

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Feb. 22, 2018 – For American consumers, watermelon is associated with summer, the season of growth. For Melon 1 and CHEP, a longstanding partnership of nearly 20 years continues to grow, to help retailers meet consumer demand. America’s largest watermelon shipper and America’s largest pallet provider are expanding their partnership to include on-site pallet storage and international shipments. Both programs are designed to help fulfill watermelon shipments and support a circular supply chain.

Melon 1, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest and oldest watermelon grower and shippers. The Melon 1 team has been growing, packing and shipping watermelons collectively for over 30 years. Melon 1 specializes in a superior product which is shipped year-round from one of over 20 packing sheds on the East Coast of the U.S. They supply watermelons to the Northeast, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Mid-West.

“We use CHEP almost exclusively for our domestic shipping, so we know what a difference shared pallets make when it comes to streamlining our supply chain,” said Rich Chastain, Co-Owner, Melon 1. “The financial and environmental savings are terrific. CHEP removes the need for disposable pallets and that’s a win for everybody.” In 2017, the company shipped nearly 440,000 CHEP pallets and required only one employee to track the movements.

Since 2009, as a result of Melon 1’s share and reuse of CHEP pooled (shared) pallets, they have realized several sustainability benefits:

• Reduced nearly 1.3 million pounds of carbon emissions, that’s like taking 1.3 million passenger cars off the road for one year!
• Kept nearly 1.7 million pounds of solid waste out of landfills.

Since CHEP pooled pallets are not disposed of, they sometimes need to be stored – and now storage creates additional value. Since last year, Melon 1 has stored CHEP pallets at nine of its 20 facilities. The on-site storage ensures Melon 1 has pallets available and accessible at harvest time. For the fiscal year 2018, Melon 1 plans to store more than 100,000 CHEP pallets at eight East Coast locations.

The international shipments, launched in January 2018, enable Melon 1 to move watermelons from Central America to the United States on CHEP pallets. The program helps Melon 1 continue to provide the fresh watermelons retailers need to keep bins full beyond the peak harvest season in the U.S.

“The work we’re doing with Melon 1 is a great example of how collaboration allows us to do even more to solve shared challenges – from taking out transport miles to reducing waste,” said Laura Nador, President, CHEP North America. “Expanding the partnership expands our ability to cut carbon emissions and costs at the same time.”

CHEP and Melon 1 today released a case study with more details about their longstanding partnership. Read the full piece https://www.chep.com/us/en/fresh/case-study-melon-1.