How to Control the Weather Inside the Box

The Cool Chain Association held its 4th Annual General Meeting in Hamburg to find solutions to this “industry relevant question”. The successful meeting was hosted by the renowned classification firm Germanischer Lloyd, one of the world’s leading classification societies, setting engineering, quality and safety standards for over 135 years. About 50 representatives from more than 20 companies involved in transport, handling and storage of Perishable and Temperature Sensitive Products or so-called PTSP’s met at the two day conference.

Speakers Eric Raemdonck of IATA, Edwin Kalischnig of ORACLE and Chris Meyer of AcuTemp explained transportation of perishable goods and how to repair the weakest link in the cool chain. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is still the main topic in order to monitor the PTSP’s from origin to destination. The audience was witness to an excellent demonstration how the RFID Chip can monitor temperature changes inside the box. Furthermore the needs of high quality insulations were presented. In many cases, high tech insulation is the better choice in the PTSP supply chain and gives all parties involved better control of the shipment quality.

MIGROS, the leading grocery retailer in Switzerland, was represented by Mr. Metzger whose views regarding the expectations of the retailer for the cool chain market led to a fructuous discussion, and consequently cooperation between the CCA and Migros.

Steven Boyd, Director Sales of AmSafe Bridport was elected as director of the board after his successful year as member at large. He presented his developed CCA Marketing Plan with the goal to recognize CCA as world’s PTSP authority and CCQI becoming recognized standard. Also elected as Members At Large were Arne Lossius, Director Special Projects of DHL Global Forwarding and Ian Gregory, Operations Manager – Cargo of bmi - British Midland.

Germanischer Lloyd Certification presented a revision to the Cool Chain Quality Indicator (CCQI) master table “Aircraft Transport”. Additionally Envirotainer provided detailed proposals for modifications in regards of temperature controlled ULD’s. The complete CCQI's provide a means for gauging the reliability, quality and proficiency of companies involved in the transport, handling and storage of PTSP’s. The point system incorporated in the CCQI standards provides an innovative, reliable and accurate way of handling and tracking quality in the cool chain logistics supply chain. The audience was also informed about the insurance advantages of CCQI certification by Germany’s well-known insurance company Lampe & Schwartze, special insurance provider for commercial and industrial risks, represented by H.C. Enge who is responsible for marine and transport activities.

Sjel Wijngaards of Jan de Rijk Logistics, one of Europe's leading providers of integrated logistics services, proudly presented his renewal CCQI certificate for successful completion of the quality standard. The logistic company again achieved the high score of 93 out of 100 on the audited master tables. Further CCA members declared their intention to get the CCQI Certification Audit from Germanischer Lloyd Certification soon.

The attendees participated in different workshops such as “How to increase awareness of the CCA”, “The Marketing Plan of the CCA”, “Who should be members of the CCA” and “CCA relations with Government and other organisations”. Results of these enthusiastic working groups can be consulted on the website of the CCA, www.coolchain.org.

Besides the presentations and workshops the attendees were invited to an exclusive boat tour with dinner in the magnificent port and harbor of Hamburg. Here the companies’ representatives had time for business talks and networking opportunities. The attendees concluded that CCA proved to be an important forum as far as revolutionizing the perishable industry concerns.