For providers and producers who create refrigerated and frozen products, figuring out logistics and transportation can be a challenge all its own. Working with the right cold-chain transportation expert makes it easier to ensure your products get there safely and with the quality your customers and end users expect—every time.
What Is Cold Chain Transportation?
Cold-chain transportation is the process of shipping temperature-sensitive products in a climate-controlled environment such as a refrigerated or frozen truck or shipping container. This process ensures that products maintain their quality and safety as they move from one end of the supply chain to the other.
As a form of transportation, this requires careful coordination of schedules and required temperatures to keep products stable and safe for use.
Why Effective Cold Chain Transportation Is So Important
Product Integrity
Fluctuating temperatures can be disastrous for products that need consistent refrigeration or freezing. Even a few degrees above the freezing point can cause spoilage and give foodborne illnesses an environment where they can thrive. This also extends to potentially destroying life-saving vaccines before they can be used or compromising the compounds in temperature-sensitive chemicals.
Working with an effective cold-chain transportation partner ensures that your products will have around-the-clock refrigeration, no matter where they may be.
Regulatory Compliance
Cold-chain transportation companies play an essential part in keeping products safe and compliant with regulatory bodies. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has numerous regulations in place to keep consumers safe, including strict rules about temperature controls for different products.
Some of the most notable regulations the industry has to follow include:
- FDA: There are dozens of guidelines in place to prevent foodborne illness and product spoilage, such as the Sanitary Transportation of Food and other regulations around the temperature regulations for different types of products.
- World Health Organization (WHO): The WHO has set standards for refrigerated road vehicles worldwide to prevent the spread of foodborne illnesses.
- Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP): This industry standard for trucking is internationally recognized and sets regulations for monitoring, logging, and storing food safely.
Other regulations may also exist at the state level, particularly for goods being transported in states with warmer climates. Working with a company specializing in cold chain transportation makes it easier to stay compliant with these regulations and always understand local, national, and international standards.
Customer Satisfaction
No matter which industry you’re in—be it food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, chemical supply, live plants and botanicals, or anything in between—maintaining a proper cold chain ensures your products will be just as high quality upon delivery as they were when they left your facility.
Working with the right partner for cold chain transportation makes the process easier. In turn, you’ll be more likely to deliver a high-quality product and build trust with your customers.
A Guide to Reliable Cold Chain Transportation
Proper Equipment and Procedures
Whether you’re working with a full or LTL shipment, it’s important to have the proper equipment available during the transportation process. Some of the necessary equipment and procedures for cold chain transportation include:
- Temperature-controlled trucks: Refrigerated or reefer trucks use a combination of double-wall insulation and an active refrigeration system powered by a motor to generate correct temperatures. Double-walled trucks provide passive insulation. The temperature requirements and other risk factors of the cargo determine which type of climate control is most appropriate.
- Cold-storage warehouses: These climate-controlled warehouses keep temperature-sensitive products at the correct temperature before and between different legs of their journey. Climate-controlled warehouses can be either an entire refrigerated building with different areas for refrigerated, frozen, and deep-frozen goods or a standard warehouse with a specially designed portion that has an active cooling system.
- Dry ice, gel packs, and other packing materials: As a measure of passive temperature control, some cold-chain transportation providers use these packing materials to insulate frozen products. Liquid nitrogen packs and insulating quilts in or around packages can also trap the cold air inside the product packaging to reduce melting.
Monitoring and Communication
Constant temperature monitoring and tracking is a must in cold-chain transportation, as well as tracking of humidity levels in the warehouse or trailer. A good broker or carrier will be familiar with the risks to products and end users, any margin of error, and non-negotiable factors such as the types of trucks that can be used. They should also have the ability to monitor the temperature in or around your product during every leg of the journey.
Transparency is vital here—your cold-chain transportation partner should always be willing to communicate with you about the types of trucks they’re using, their consistency with must-arrive-by dates, and any potential issues that may arise during transit.
Route Planning
Your cold-chain transportation partner should offer flexibility in the routes they take. Their logistics team should also be able to alternate with a moment’s notice if needed.
For example, if you need to deliver a frozen order from Denver to Indianapolis and there’s a major blizzard passing over I-70 and I-76 that will slow down their progress, they should be able to easily find comparable routes along I-80 or US 50 to keep their delivery on time and safe from temperature fluctuations.
Emergency Protocols
This isn’t a situation anyone likes to think about. However, a good cold-chain storage and transportation provider should have contingency plans should their warehouse or vehicles experience an equipment failure or unexpected temperature excursions.
These backups should include:
- Having other potential options for transport standing by
- Using emergency cooling packs and liquid nitrogen
- Recruiting technicians who can repair the affected equipment on-site or roadside as needed
Working with reefer trucks provides an economical, flexible choice because routes can be easily altered depending on needs and sudden changes. However, most carriers adhere to strict schedules and may have longer delivery times if there are multiple scheduled stops.
How Mulder Brothers Can Help
Cold-chain transportation requires expertise and experience to ensure your products maintain their safety and quality. Choosing a partner that specializes in cold-chain transportation and logistics means you won’t have to wonder if your temperature-sensitive products are being handled properly or if your end users will be safe when using them.
Mulder Brothers is committed to making sure your product is delivered on time and with the temperature specifications you need. Cold-chain transportation is our area of expertise. With our extensive background in trucking, you can count on us for reliable transportation and support.
Talk to Our Team
See what Mulder Brothers can do to safely transport your refrigerated and frozen products from anywhere in the United States! Schedule a consultation or request a quote from us today to get started.