6 tips on how to safely ship temperature-sensitive freight

• Keeping products off walls and floors — and using proper spacing and insulation — helps prevent heat or cold transfer that can compromise shipment integrity.
• Starting shipments at the right temperature, using insulation effectively and planning for conditions throughout transit can extend product viability and reduce risk.
• Monitoring weather across the full route and working with an experienced carrier ensures stronger planning, better protection and fewer costly disruptions.

With severe weather events becoming more frequent, shippers are facing increasing challenges with keeping food and beverage products safe during extreme temperature swings.

Shippers need to control and plan for what they can more than ever before to keep product on shelves and reduce claims. Here are six tips on how to safely move temperature-sensitive freight in hot or cold weather.

Food and beverage products loaded against a trailer or shipping container wall will be the same temperature as outside the trailer within 24 hours. Conduction (the transfer of heat or cold from one object to another) can wreak havoc on temperature-controlled freight.

In intermodal shipping, product is loaded tight against the walls to prevent load shifts. However, rail providers have approved the use of dunnage, loose wood or matting that keeps cargo in place, to fill voids and maintain a distance of 4" between the sidewall and shippers’ products. A variety of options are on the market, including:

• Airbags
• Foil-backed fillers
• Styrofoam panels
• Folding fillers

Carrier loading engineers can help you create a loading pattern that will protect food and beverage products from damage and temperature while keeping product moving via the rails safely.

Blankets are effective in slowing the transfer of heat or cold but need to cover the product completely. That means placing insulation under the freight, on the floor of the container, in addition to over and around the pallet. Doing so reduces the loss of heat/cold through floorboards. Contrary to popular belief, heat/cold isn’t transferred from the floor to the product sitting directly on it. Instead, heat/cold escapes the trailer via the floor and puts the product at risk.

Knowing this, retention and maintenance of optimal temperatures is a must and can extend the life of a shipment by two to three days.

Blankets slow the transfer of heat, but timing is everything. Capturing heat in the winter and cold in the summer means your product will be protected longer and have more time before exceeding your temperature threshold.

By loading at the desired temperature, you’ll make the blanket more effective (on top and bottom of the pallet) and give your food and beverage product more time before it exceeds its maximum threshold.

Monitoring the weather is complicated: Not only do you need to monitor temperature and conditions at your points of origin and destination, you need to include all of the points in between. Doing so needs to be an additional task on your daily to-do list and can be done manually via the internet or by using a service which monitors the temperature throughout the planned transit.

Finding the right food and beverage carrier is essential. Asset-based carriers that own their equipment, like Schneider, have resources to help you develop the right plan for your freight. Schneider’s experienced load engineers work directly with customers to develop a customized plan for your specific freight needs and run test loads to set you up for success. Read more about how Schneider can help your business navigate food and beverage logistics at our food and beverage shipping services page.

Learn how Schneider can help your business navigate the logistics of temperature-controlled freight in any weather.