13.1.2   Upper and lower travel temperature limits
If the upper temperature limit is exceeded, fruit and vegetables, for example, may undergo considerable quality degradation and damage due to increased enzymatic and microbiological processes. Elevated temperatures may also lead to self-heating or to cargo fire in the case of oil-containing products. Leaf tobacco which is exposed to temperatures above the upper limit, for example, may dry out, fragment and turn to dust.
 
Here too, it is therefore necessary to keep the cargo away from heat sources, e.g. tank tops, engine room bulkheads. If the temperature falls below the lower temperature limit, it is to be expected, for example, that fruit will suffer chilling damage (chilling) and that drinks and water-containing preserved foods will suffer expansion due to freezing.
 
Temperature fluctuations experienced by a cargo when traveling through different climatic zones may result in softening and melting and subsequent hardening and jamming/caking, e.g. in the case of natural rubber, bitumen, gums and resins (Japan wax, paraffin, shellac). When the container is unpacked, the caked natural rubber bales may tear.
 

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