The top three challenges in temperature-controlled transportation of perishable goods are capacity, controlling and monitoring the temperature of products during shipping, and cost containment, according to RWI Transportation, Wilder, KY.
The company, which specializes in handling fresh produce and other perishable food commodities, surveyed North American companies shipping temperature-controlled products and released its 2012 Temperature-Controlled Transportation Report.
Among the findings are the reasons 65% of respondents rejected shipments in the prior year, led by temperature variances.
Strategies to improve capacity include finding new carriers (27%); better planning (22%), long-term contracts/commitments to carriers (13%) and using asset-based carriers/3PLs (6%).
Solving shipping challenges entails understanding and using available shipment data such as lanes, location and temperature, according to Richard Bauer, RWI’s executive vice president and general manager, adding: “As technology improves, our access to better data increases and brings the industry closer to overcoming these challenges.”
For a full copy of the report, visit http://rwitrans.com/resources/whitepapers.asp.
