Biocourier

Controlled temperature transport, and the cold chain that holds it

A cold chain is only as good as its weakest hour. Heat-sensitive biological material, medicines and perishable goods do not fail at the moment they are delivered - they fail in the gap nobody was watching: on a loading apron in August, in a vehicle left standing, or during a delay at a border. Which is why the useful question is not what temperature we can reach, but what temperature we can hold, for how long, and whether we can show you that we did.

We carry heat-sensitive consignments within Greece and abroad in certified and calibrated thermal insulation packaging, which we import ourselves from the leading manufacturers of materials for heat-sensitive cargo. The boxes hold a constant temperature for 48 to 120 hours regardless of the conditions outside.

The temperature bands

• Ambient - the outside temperature, uncontrolled.
• Controlled room temperature - +15 °C to +25 °C.
• Chilled - +2 °C to +8 °C.
• Frozen - −15 °C to −25 °C.
• Deep frozen, with dry ice - UN1845.
• Cryogenic, in liquid nitrogen - −196 °C, UN1977.

For pallet loads - foodstuffs or pharmaceuticals in quantity - we arrange temperature-controlled trucks instead, at room, chilled or frozen settings, with a datalogger running in the load.

What we do

Tell us what is travelling and the temperature it has to hold, and we specify the packaging around that rather than the other way round. Collection and packing are done by a driver certified under ADR, so the person who seals the box is the person qualified to carry it - the same driver and the same certification whether the load is dangerous goods or a pallet of medicines.

A certified digital datalogger goes inside the packaging, not taped to the outside, and records the temperature for the whole journey. When the shipment lands you get the record as a pdf. That file is the point: it is the difference between believing the chain held and being able to demonstrate it.

Things to watch out for

• Certified and calibrated are two different words. Certified says the box was built to a standard; calibrated says it has been checked since. Ask any carrier for both.
• Dry ice is itself a dangerous good, UN1845, and it sublimates. A shipment frozen with it needs a vented outer, its own label and a declared net weight, and on a long routing it needs replenishing.
• The band is a range, not a target. A load specified at +2 °C to +8 °C has failed at +9 °C, however briefly. This is what the datalogger record is for.
• Season changes the plan, not just the packaging. The same box on the same route performs differently in February and in August; a summer routing may need a shorter transit rather than a bigger box.
• Tell us the excursion limits, if your product has them. Some products tolerate a defined excursion and some do not, and we would rather plan for yours than discover it.

Official sources

Check these directly rather than taking anyone’s summary, including ours.

• EMA - Good Distribution Practice: the EU rules on distributing medicinal products, including storage and transport temperature.
• EOF - National Organisation for Medicines: the Greek regulator for medicinal products.
• UNECE - About the ADR: the road agreement, which is where dry ice and liquid nitrogen are classified.

If your product is subject to requirements of its own, send them to us and we will tell you plainly whether we can meet them. Call +30 210 64 66 400 or email info@kanga.gr.