Cold Chain & Temperature-Controlled Logistics
GDP-compliant shipping for temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals — qualified packaging, continuous monitoring, and a documented excursion procedure so a delay at customs does not become a written-off consignment.
Cold chain rarely fails in the air. It fails on the ground.
In our experience the flight is almost never the problem. Temperature excursions happen on the apron waiting for a transfer, in an unrefrigerated customs warehouse while a document is queried, and on the final road leg to a hospital or depot where nobody had arranged a refrigerated vehicle.
That is why the packaging qualification and the customs plan have to be designed together. A shipper qualified for 72 hours is worthless on a lane where clearance routinely takes five days. We size the thermal protection against the realistic worst case for that specific route, including the clearance step, not against the scheduled transit time.
And because excursions still occasionally happen, we agree in advance who assesses the data and on what basis the goods are released or rejected. Deciding that after the event is how disputes start.
Where excursions occur
- Apron and tarmac waiting time between connections
- Non-refrigerated customs bond while paperwork is queried
- Weekend and public-holiday clearance gaps
- Final road leg without a refrigerated vehicle
- Receiving site with no cold storage capacity at delivery
- Packaging qualified for a shorter duration than the real lane time
Temperature ranges we handle
Vaccines, insulins, biologics, monoclonal antibodies, many injectables and reference biologics.
Products with an upper limit that summer transit through the Gulf, South Asia or Africa will breach without protection.
Certain biologics, plasma-derived products and study material requiring frozen distribution.
Dry-ice or cryogenic shipping for specific biologics and advanced therapy material, subject to route feasibility.
Feasibility on deep-frozen and cryogenic lanes depends heavily on carrier capability and destination handling. We confirm the route is genuinely viable before accepting the shipment.
What the service includes
- Qualified passive shippers or active containers, sized to the real lane duration
- Continuous electronic data logger in every temperature-controlled consignment
- Pre-conditioned coolants and validated pack-out procedure
- Lane risk assessment covering season, transit and clearance time
- Carrier selection based on cold-chain handling capability, not lowest freight rate
- Pre-alert documentation so customs has papers before the goods land
- Cold storage at transit points where clearance may extend
- Refrigerated final-mile vehicle to depot, hospital or site
- Temperature record supplied on delivery for QA review before release
- Pre-agreed excursion assessment and release-or-reject procedure
How we plan a temperature-controlled shipment
Label storage condition, permitted excursion tolerance if any, and stability data supporting it. The label condition alone is not enough to plan a lane.
Origin and destination ambient conditions in that season, realistic clearance time on that route, number of transfers, and availability of cold storage at each hold point.
Shipper chosen with headroom over the assessed worst case, and the pack-out procedure documented so it is reproducible on repeat shipments.
Import permit, CoA, invoice and packing list submitted as a pre-alert. Most cold-chain losses we have seen trace back to a document query, not a packaging failure.
Continuous logging throughout, with milestone tracking at departure, transfer, arrival and clearance so a delay is visible while it can still be acted on.
Refrigerated final mile, receipt into cold storage, and the full temperature record handed over so your QA makes the release decision on evidence.
If an excursion happens
No honest logistics provider will promise excursions never occur. What matters is what happens next, and that it is agreed before the shipment moves rather than argued afterwards.
1. Quarantine, don't discard
Goods go into quarantine on arrival, not into use and not into the bin. The decision is a quality decision, not a commercial one.
2. Assess against stability data
The logger record is assessed against the product's stability data and any permitted excursion allowance. Some products tolerate a defined deviation; others do not.
3. Documented outcome
Release or reject is recorded with the reasoning, so your QA file is complete and any insurance or replacement claim has evidence behind it.
Liability, insurance cover and replacement terms are set out in the shipment contract. We recommend appropriate cargo insurance on every temperature-controlled consignment and will say so even where it is not required.
Have a temperature-sensitive shipment to plan?
Tell us the product, storage condition, quantity, origin and destination. We will assess the lane and tell you honestly whether it is viable before you commit stock to it.
Submit Shipment Requirement Ask about a route