Cold Chain Market Report

Special Report

forwarder De Paulis Logistics & SCM Eireli , said he had to cancel a recent booking for reefer cargo to the US with one carrier because of container shortages in May that were due to Brazil ’ s fruit export season .

Those equipment issues were compounded by congestion at transshipment ports , including Colon and Christobal in Panama , which led to longer transit times .

“ The actual transit time quoted by the carrier was much longer than the original estimate on its website ,” De Paulis said . “ This carrier had problems berthing on schedule in Panama which was affecting the entire shipment schedule .”

The issues were so bad , De Paulis said he had to change the carrier and port of discharge in the US .

“ The alternative carrier , which doesn ’ t actually call at the original port of discharge , was more expensive and there were extra inland costs in the US as well ,” he said . “ The good thing was that this carrier was faster , without

“ With ships pretty full out of Asia , carriers are not waiting around to load empty reefers back to Asia .”

significant delays on arrival on destination .” De Paulia said he thought the current congestion at Asian ports would worsen the situation facing South American reefer shippers .

Xeneta ’ s Sand agreed , pointing out that after the South American reefer market tightened in May , “ the troubles have now spread onto other trades too .”

“ With a record high for dry cargo from the East Coast of

Expedited freight specialist targets food shippers with new dry van service

By Eric Johnson

Candor ’ s new service uses packaging to keep cargo cold in traditional dry vans , rather than reefer trucks . Shutterstock . com

A new service from Texas-based expedited freight specialist Candor Expedite aims to give frozen and refrigerated food shippers greater control over their costs and help extend the shelf life of their products .

The new service , called Candor Food Chain , utilizes a reusable cold packaging solution that allows pallet and box-sized perishables shipments to move via regular dry van transport — as opposed to refrigerated ( reefer ) trucks — while staying frozen or refrigerated for up to nine days .

The idea for the service came when Texas-based Candor saw its national fast food retail customers struggling with capacity for small perishables shipments .

“ They were coming constantly with a need to move a carton or a skid and were having a hard time finding reefer capacity ,” Candor CEO Nicole Glenn told the Journal of Commerce .

Those retailers would patch together a solution generally using dry ice as they waited for a weekly or bi-weekly less-than-truckload ( LTL ) reefer pickup , or pay for an entire reefer truckload trailer .

Eliminating waste

The new service is built on a partnership between Candor and Cool Chain , a European technology provider that has worked with pharmaceutical companies for more than a decade . Cool Chain ’ s product is an insulation material that negates the need for products to be refrigerated by coolant or dry ice .

“ There is so much waste in perishables ,” Glenn said . “ One of the biggest fast-food retailers , they have a mix of fresh and frozen goods . Today , they ’ re sending three trucks per day — fresh , frozen , dry — to their outlets . That ’ s three drivers needed , three interruptions for the store manager to

32 Journal of Commerce | July 1 , 2024 www . joc . com