Sea Freight: Overcoming Key Technical Challenges Transporting Temperature-Controlled Life Science Products

Pharmaceutical companies are forced to find ways to reduce costs where possible so that they can offset some unavoidable cost of compliance. Converting air shipments to sea freight offers important cost saving opportunities as long as the conversion is done properly. In this exclusive interview Jean Vezina, President at Salvus Inc, speaks to Andrea Charles from Cold Chain IQ, about the key technical challenges transporting temperature-controlled life science products via sea and how to minimise the risk to the product during transportation.

Cold Chain IQ: What growth have we seen in the movement of temperature-controlled products via sea freight and why do you think that is?

J Vezina: With good distribution practices being more and more enforced around the globe and with all temperature ranges being considered, pharmaceutical companies are facing significant costs increases in order to achieve regulatory compliance. Pharmaceutical companies are forced to find ways to reduce costs where possible so that they can offset some unavoidable cost of compliance. Converting air shipments to sea freight offers important cost saving opportunities as long as the conversion is done properly.

Cold Chain IQ: What are the key technical challenges transporting temperature-controlled life science products via sea? How can we minimise the risk to the product during transportation?

J Vezina: The biggest risk is power interruptions at the port during loading and unloading operations. Sea containers rely on external power to supply the refrigeration unit and the containers are unplugged at the port to move the containers from the truck to the ground and then to the ship. Depending on the outside conditions and the properties of the pay load temperatures can go out of range fairly quickly when the container is disconnected.

It is not a rare occurrence to see a container being unplugged for several hours during unloading and loading operations at the port. This can compromise the integrity of the entire load. Power failure tests should be conducted under extreme conditions to gain a better understanding of the thermal behaviour of the shipping systems. And also you should specify in your SOPs the maximum time allowed for a container to be without power.

Another risk is to start shipping without having a determined loading pattern. It is critical to determine a loading pattern that will allow for an optimal air flow throughout the entire container ensuring that the temperature distribution is as even as possible. Even a perfectly maintained and running container can have hot or cold spots if the loading pattern is not right. This step must include the selection of the components that will be used to secure the pay load.

Improperly secured pay loads may move during shipment and compromise air flow. We have seen in some shipment temperature within the load being evenly maintained from origin to a certain point at which temperature shifted suddenly outside of the targeted range, as a direct consequence of a pallet or some bracing components having moved.

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Cold Chain IQ: What should the temperature excursion procedure cover?

J Vezina: It’s all about being able to intervene as soon as the temperature excursion is detected. There needs to be a clear plan that outlines corrective actions to be taken for any event at each stage of the distribution process. A decision tree and training for all involved staff are very important and all those things should be documented and reviewed.

Cold Chain IQ: In your opinion what is the key consideration in selection of a shipping solution?

J Vezina: First it’s important to select a supply chain partner that will be willing to work closely with your pharmaceutical organisation. You will need to create a set of documents that should include all the stuff like preventive maintenance plan, repair and spare parts plan, cleaning programme, temperature monitoring programme, maximum off-power times, training, handling of deviations, communication between parties, container availability and suitability, and all the other elements that you find in a quality management system.

The thermal performance of a temperature-controlled sea container can vary depending on the type of refrigeration unit and its condition, as well as the dimensions of the container and its insulation. So in order to obtain a repeatable process in terms of thermal performance it is important to specify the type of equipment that you are going to be using and the minimum requirements so that you create a list of approved containers. A maximum age should also be specified because insulation degrades over time. We highly recommend conducting some test shipments with fake products prior to routine commercial shipments. Minimum and maximum pay loads should be tested under the harshest climatic conditions. This step often allows pharma companies to identify some weaknesses and improve SOPs before starting to ship commercial products on a regular basis.

Tests should also include your product loading and unloading operations, load patterns for optimal air flow and power failure simulation.

Cold Chain IQ: What further improvements would you like to see to the current temperature-controlled sea freight capabilities?

J Vezina: We would like to see a better integration of the real time monitoring and tracking systems within the supply chain at any given stage of the transportation process. The lack of visibility during transit is still one of the main concerns for pharma companies. There is a lot of work to be done for the integration of processes, trained people and technologies within the ocean shipping supply chain. But beyond all those advancements in temperature control and monitoring the pharma companies and the ocean shipping world need to learn to know each other better.

Cold Chain IQ: What are your predictions for the cold chain market next year, what changes do you think we’ll see on the landscape?

J Vezina: I think that on one side you’re going to have the pharma companies looking more into ocean shipping, like we just discussed, because this is really an area where you can make some significant cost savings. You are going to continue to see more suppliers improving their GDPs and integrating real time tracking and monitoring within their operations.