“The challenge is to optimize the design, materials and components to minimize the overall size and weight of the shipping solutions,” says Mark Barakat, managing director of Cryopak, a subsidiary of Integreon. Pharmaceutical products that require cold chain shipping can also benefit from barrier film packaging. Today, everything from over-the-counter medicines to life-saving vaccines must be transported in temperature-sensitive packaging, such as insulated cardboard inserts.
With these devices, recipients can see if the shipment has been out of their temperature range and for how long. Logistics experts can integrate multiple production points, cold storage and shipping solutions, or tighter transportation programs to maintain the required temperatures and humidity levels. Increased control over storage and transportation to avoid product damage is a hallmark of cold chain logistics. It would also offer optional onboard telemetry that would give biopharmaceutical cold chain customers access to cloud-based temperatures. The use of reusable parcel delivery containers and cold chain pallets has increased regularly in recent years, helping pharmaceutical manufacturers to transport products of excessive quality to large markets in different parts of the world. According to the Pelican Sustainability Survey on Biopharmaceutical Cold Chain Logistics 2020, 38% of biopharmaceutical companies used reusable rental containers in 2019 and 25% explored them.
As carefully controlled as the internal temperatures of storage or shipping containers are, they can fluctuate with fluctuations in external temperatures. Shipping in tropical heat or snowstorms in the north can affect the conditions in the containers. Therefore, loaders need to take several measures to insulate the products from external temperature changes. Examples of this are the use of bedspreads and gel packs to maintain the temperature of food. Refrigerated containers can use feedback from monitoring devices to maintain constant temperatures inside. Cold Chain Technologies was founded in 1967 to help the temperature sensitive shipping industry protect their critical product loads.
The post-pandemic market is expected to increase due to the increased demand for cold chain packaging solutions in the pharmaceutical industry, especially for the distribution of vaccines and the development of drugs for the treatment of infections. Our temperature-controlled, cold chain packaging solutions protect your temperature-sensitive products, including fresh or frozen food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Cold chain packaging solutions reduce cavity filling, insulate from temperature fluctuations and minimize freight costs. The distribution of food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals has increased the demand for reliable cold chain packaging solutions. The great importance of regulatory compliance for food and pharmaceutical products also drives the need for cold chain packaging to ensure product integrity.
Compliance with this temperature range is crucial for the integrity of a shipment along the supply chain and allows for an optimal shelf life for perishable products. Any deviation can lead to irrevocable and costly damage; a product may simply lose any market value or profit. Cold chain logistics focuses on the transportation of products within the cold chain supply network in order to maintain a constant temperature regardless of shipping destinations.
It takes time and coordination to move a shipment efficiently, and any delay can have negative consequences, especially if this cargo is perishable. To ensure that the cargo is not damaged or deteriorated during this process, companies in the pharmaceutical, medical and food industries are increasingly relying on the cold chain.
China, Japan and South Korea account for the largest share of the region, as these countries have well-established supply chains and reputable companies offering a wide range of cold packaging products. In order to increase market presence, key players are strategically introducing new products to the global market. For example, Softbox, a manufacturer of temperature control packaging for the life sciences and logistics industry, launched its new Tempcell ECO, Tempcell MAX and Silverpod MAX pallet and package shipping systems on the market in January 2019. Tempcell ECO is made of recyclable corrugated paper and can regulate various temperatures from 0 to 30 degrees Celsius.
The United States dominates the regional market due to its technological progress and established supply chains. The large area of the country and the uneven distribution of the population make the use of cold packaging when transporting food and medicines to remote places even more important. According to IQVIA’s pharmaceutical trade analysis, 2018, the cold chain accounts for about 18% of total pharmaceutical spending. In addition, the growth of cold chain solutions increases 2 times compared to non-cold chain solutions in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, the growing foreign trade in pharmaceutical products is driving the demand for packaging solutions to transport the products safely over long distances.
The possibility of understanding local norms, customs and environmental conditions, as well as estimating the duration and time of a distribution channel, makes them an important factor in world trade. As a result, the logistics industry is experiencing an increasing degree of specialization and segmentation of cold chain shipping into various potential market niches within global supply chains. Completely new segments of the distribution industry have very actively used the double development of the spatial expansion of supply chains, which is supported by globalization and the huge variety of goods in circulation.