Cold Chain India Post Show Review - by Ryan Viegas, VP, Watson Pharma

The 2nd Annual Cold Chain India Summit held on 16th and 17th May, 2013 in Mumbai India . Along with other eminent experts from the pharmaceutical and Cold chain industries, we touched upon topics covering Cold chain movement in India , Product Quality and integrity , Improving the supply chain storage and transportation infrastructure , Cold chain strategies for Biologicals, Overcoming challenges and optimizing costs by usage of passive shippers, Mitigating temperature deviation risks etc.

There were companies who showcased their products catering to the needs of the cold chain industry to try and highlight the main issue of cold chain logistics i.e TEMPERATURE EXCURSIONS during transit and storage. It varied from thermal packaging’s to innovative solutions for measuring , analyzing , distributing and displaying business process data in real-time to enable complete visibility in the cold chain.

The round table discussions with participants from across segments made the conference very interactive and participants could share practical difficulties and possible solutions in addressing the cold chain movement challenges with support from the freight forwarding industry and the Custom House Agents .

An insight was also given on the parameters to be considered while selecting a third party cold chain warehousing facility.

The trade is successful in getting permission from Mumbai customs to allow ULD containers to be taken to customer premises – for both import and export without payment of customs duty which would help the industry tremendously to mitigate temperature risks during multiple transits and storage .

In summary, a great learning experience.