Top 5 cool chain innovations making a difference in supply chain quality

With the value of the temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical market topping US$1 trillion dollars, air cargo handlers are searching for the best way to ensure that these commodities are kept at a very specific, narrow temperature range during their journey in the air, and especially on the ground, where the risk is highest for a temperature incursion to occur and can ruin an entire ULD or pallet of valuable medicines. Logistics firms, airlines and airports are spending fortunes to make sure perishables will not perish while in transit. According to a report by Zion Market Research, the valuation of the global cold chain equipment market will rise from US$67 billion in 2015 to $118 billion by 2020 – a compound annual growth rate of about 9.8 percent during that period. There have been both passive and active cooling systems added to ULDs and pallets for many years to regulate the temperature of sensitive goods, but go to the next page to see a few newer devices that are beginning to have a real impact of reducing temperature incursion for some of the industry’s most valuable commodities. Cool chain dollies Some carriers and airports have developed specially designed dollies that can enclose pallets and ULDs in a stable temperature environment while they are being handled on the ground in between flights. It’s no surprise that many of the advances in this field have come from the Middle East, where ambient temperatures can routinely hover at around 50°C on airport aprons, where improperly handled ULDs can be ruined with just a few minutes of direct sun without adequate protection. Emirates has developed “ Cool Dolly ,” measuring 22 feet long, that can safely transport pharma materials from plane to cool-chain facility or act as a temporary storage area in between trans-shipments. The dolly can be maintained at -20°C +20°C for up to three hours. Other variants have been used recently at Etihad ground operations , LATAM Airlines and at Brussels airport (pictured). Bluetooth tracking of ULDs More recently, the industry has made great strides in the monitoring of temperature-sensitive goods, both on the ground and in the air. In an alliance between ACL Airshop and New Zealand-based Core Transport Technologies, ACL has deployed automated ULD tracking systems , powered by Bluetooth-technology. While these systems can be used to prevent loss of ULDs or find which ones are being underutilized, they can also be used to alert shippers and forwarders about sudden spikes in temperature and record any sudden movements or shocks that can damage a load of pharma materials. Last year, ACL signed a multi-year agreement with Silk Way West Airlines to provide real-time Bluetooth tracking of its ULDs. Package-level monitoring For those who want even more granulation of their temperature-sensitive monitoring data, there is the “BeeBeacon,” developed by asset monitoring company RoamBee . The product, measuring just a few inches wide, can be attached to individual packages to provide real-time data on the cargo’s journey, using a mix of Bluetooth, wi-fi and Global System for Mobile (GSM) systems. RoamBee CEO Sanjay Sharma told Air Cargo World last year that the BeeBeacon has been in use by a major Mexican beer manufacturer that ships up to 900,000 pallets a month, allowing the brewery to “identify high-risk hotspots and reroute their supply chains accordingly.” The device monitors location, movement history, idle time, geo visibility, and can compute an estimated time of arrival. It also monitors light exposure, for signs of tampering, as well as temperature and humidity fluctuations. Flower Watch Flowers are becoming another highly sought-after perishable all around the globe, and a major challenge for shippers that need the fragile buds to last for at least ten days. While most shippers of flowers know how to vent the ethylene gas that is naturally produced by cut flowers and can accelerate decay, it is often hard to detect how much damage has been done until premature wilting happens days later. One company, called Flower Watch , has developed a system called “ Watch-itT ,” which uses a series of stickers that can visually monitor the loss of “vase life.” The Watch-itT lets customers see at a glance whether the shipped flowers were shipped in optimal conditions – if the stickers are still green when the flowers arrive, they should be OK for the next several days, but if the sticker turns red, it indicates that conditions during shipment exceeded a pre-set temperature limit, meaning the flowers will be more likely to wilt. Pharma Corridors concept For a more comprehensive plan to limit temperature incursions, Emirates’ air cargo arm, SkyCargo, has created “ pharma corridors ” that link various destinations that are designed to maintain strict end-to-end temperature control for sensitive goods. According to SkyCargo, the facilities within these corridors are operated under uniform cool-chain standards that meet or exceed the handling protocols of either rthe E.U.’s Good Distribution Practices (GDP) or IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators for Pharmaceiticals (CEIV-Pharma) guidelines. Ground-handling partners and other stakeholders working within these multiple cities across SkyCargo’s network, have received enhanced training in the handling pharmaceutical cargo. The stations then underwent a number of engagement and qualification visits to prepare for the rollout. The first dozen SkyCargo stations that were named as pharma corridors include Amsterdam, Brussels, Bengaluru, Cairo, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Milan, Rome, Shanghai and Singapore. More air hubs are expected to be added later this year, Emirates said.

Top 5 cool chain innovations making a difference in supply chain quality

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