What is a cold chain?

A cold chain is a temperature-controlled supply chain. This type of a supply chain is obviously more expensive and a lot more difficult to maintain, but it’s required for the shipping of temperature-sensitive goods like foods and certain medicines. Even small variances in the temperature of the products during their journey could cause them to spoil and be of no use. Medicines are likely the most sensitive, but other perishables like foods can quickly become ruined or begin to harbour dangerous bacteria if the cold chain is compromised.

Cold chain reliant industries

There are a number of industries that benefit from cold chain logistics. While the obvious ones would be perishables like frozen foods, meats and dairy products, there are others you might not suspect.

• Vaccines - Unicef and even local distributors like pharmacies utilise cold storage to ship life-saving vaccines
• Photographic film - Film is actually very sensitive and requires temp-controlled storage
• Chemicals - Many chemicals require controlled temp-storage or they become flammable or otherwise unusable
• Wine - Wines need to be stored in a cool place to avoid a “flat” taste (wines are the topic of next week's blog post, by the way!)
• Food - Seafood, meat, dairy products and fresh produce are all temperature-sensitive

Technology and technique

Cold chains use a variety of simple and complex techniques, and all of them work to some degree. These might involve refrigerated trucks, complex temperature reporting or even just something as simple as ice packs and blankets.

Shipping methods that use cold chain elements go back as far as 1797 when fishermen used natural ice to preserve their fish stockpiles while at sea. Believe it or not, we’re still using ice in many cold chain related contexts, and it works well.

Dry ice is actually a staple of cold chain logistics, and is frequently used to deliver perishables to consumers. It maintains a safe temperature, and it lasts for a very long time. Gel packs are also popular, particularly for items that shouldn’t get too hot but don’t need to be frozen.

When large amounts of freight are involved, eutectic plates can be used to cool rolling refrigerated units or trucks that are out for faster deliveries to reduce noise for late or early deliveries. This freight is also often covered with heavy blankets, which does a surprisingly good job of maintaining temperature.

Of course, for heavy duty shipments, liquid nitrogen and reefers can be utilised to maintain constant temperature control over sensitive goods. Plus, shipments will always be equipped with thermometers which constantly monitor the temperature of shipments. Some of them may even report back to a central hub if temperature integrity has not been maintained.

The biggest challenges of cold chain logistics

1. Shipment delays
   

Shipment delays are annoying for any industry, but they can be catastrophic for cold chain logistics. If you’ve packed a shipment with enough ice or gel packs to get it to its destination in 6 hours but the trip ends up taking 18 hours, you have a big problem.

This could end up forcing the distributor to throw out the entire shipment if it’s not able to maintain temperature. Though, sometimes even if a shipment is still safe consumers may not buy it if it doesn’t look its best.

While it’s hard to plan for shipment delays, you could put a disaster recovery plan in place to help manage delivery truck breakdowns or maintenance issues. Or, plan alternate routes to avoid construction or accident delays.

2. Poor training of employees
   

Many companies spend a lot of time on their logistics, but they don’t spend enough time on employee training. Proper packaging, shipping and reporting are very important to cold chain logistics, but many companies simply don’t have the time or resources to train their employees on proper handling procedures. This can often produce large losses in the way of spoiled goods or poor experiences for consumers.

Having leaders in every department who can be hands-on with new hires and consistent training materials can help to solve this issue.

3. Extreme temperatures
   

Sometimes even all your plans just won’t pay off, and you could end up facing surprisingly extreme temperatures. This could make it very difficult to maintain safety for your shipments. It can be hard to know what to do in this situation.

In some cases, you may choose to inform customers and delay their shipments if you can’t get the product to them safely. In others, you may be able to use alternative shipping methods to make the delivery.

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Did you enjoy this blog post? Take a look at our previous posts on food spoilage, Food Spoilage is a Bigger Problem Than You Think (Part 1/2), 4 Tips for Fresh Produce Spoilage Reduction (Part 2/2) or Digital Logistics: What Is It, and How Will It Impact Your Organization?