Valenciaport Sandbox has added a further pilot to its innovation programme after trials of a new passive radiative cooling film produced encouraging results when applied to shipping containers, sources indicated on 2 October 2026.

The Sandbox, established as a testing ground for new technologies in the port and logistics environment, hosted the trial of the film developed by startup Cooling Photonics. The report says the material acts as a passive radiative cooler that "cools" containers without consuming energy, and the trial at a local depot returned very positive results.

Cooling Photonics supplied the passive radiative cooling film for a field test carried out at the Transbase Soler depot last summer. According to the report, the film was applied to containers as part of the Sandbox pilot and monitored during routine operations to gauge real-world performance and durability.

The trial setting and immediate findings

The exercise took place at the Transbase Soler depot during the previous summer and formed part of the Sandbox's continuing programme to validate novel solutions in operational port settings. reports summarised the outcome as very positive, indicating the film met the trial objectives under the conditions tested.

The material is described in the report as passive, relying on radiative cooling principles rather than electrical power, and was evaluated for its practical application to container envelopes. The Sandbox provided the operational environment intended to reveal performance issues that laboratory work may not capture.

Implications for port and logistics operations

The pilot adds to Valenciaport Sandbox's record as an environment for proving concepts intended to reduce operational burdens on terminals and depots, the report notes. Cooling Photonics' contribution, as recorded in the item, was specifically the cooling film; further assessments and follow-up pilots were not detailed in the published summary.

Cooling Photonics is identified in the report as the startup behind the film; no additional technical specifications, commercial arrangements or wider deployment plans were set out in the summary supplied by reports. The Sandbox continues to attract tests from technology providers seeking to validate solutions in an active logistics environment.

The report by reports on 2 October 2026 serves as the public account of the pilot and its recorded outcomes, with the publication noting the favourable results from last summer's trial. Valenciaport Sandbox's role as a facilitator of such trials remains central to how the port authority and its partners assess emerging maritime and logistics technologies.

Luke Smout, Editor of The Maritime Gazette
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