Optimizing Canada's Cold Chain in the Face of Its Vast Territories & Extreme Temperatures
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Cold chains in Canada need to be especially robust due to the region’s vast territories and extreme temperatures.
On this subject, Jim Bacon Cold Chain Industry Expert (formerly withGrifols) explained: "For a moment, consider just the driving challenges encountered over the vast Canadian landscape including distance, mountain winter conditions in the west, long hauls from Ontario to Alberta around the Great Lakes, and the ferry trips to Newfoundland,
to mention a few.
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"Couple this with the sophistication of a reefer trailer today, maintaining various temperatures (2-8C, 15-25C, <-20C, etc). Also the need for location tracking, security, geo-fencing etc. These all need to be considered and reliable well before the product is picked up at the client’s site."
The vast distances encountered in particular, place a strain on packaging, which will need to have the sufficient durability to maintain the required temperature. Also, unexpected weather scenarios - bridges ruined by rain, roads blocked by ice - can add major delays to the transit. This translates into major impacts on costs for the providers and a reduced service level received by customers. The extreme temperatures also place the products within the cold chain at risk of being compromised, vaccines experience this to an extreme extent within Canadian winters. Vaccines must remain within 2 – 8 degrees, and Canada’s winters can hold temperatures around -20 degrees, Reza Shojaei, Quality Systems Manager, Canadian Plasma Resources notes that: "We need to somehow keep these temperatures in the tracking and all the time they must be monitored [to] make sure that the vaccines do not [spoil].
"If for any reason the cooler inside the truck didn’t work or [is] broken, we will lose all the product – because the temperature outside is minus 30, they [will] get frozen [quickly] and [we would] have to just discard all of them."
Cold Chain IQ consulted with a selection of cold chain professionals for their tips on how to optimize Canada’s cold chain in the face of its vast territories & extreme temperatures.
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