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In the dynamic realm of supply chain management, a term has emerged that's sending shivers down the spine of industry professionals: Temperature Debt, or "TempDebt" for short. Similar to its tech counterpart, TempDebt signifies a daunting challenge, but in this case, it revolves around the crucial task of temperature control within the perishable supply chain. Overlooking effective temperature management can lead to a chilling accumulation of issues over time, much akin to financial or technical debt.

In the intricate web of global trade, the Panama Canal stands as a pivotal artery that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, facilitating the movement of goods between East and West. However, recent developments have created challenges in the canal’s ability to effectively serve the global supply chain.

The role of data has become critical in the never-ending quest for food safety and is revolutionizing the way food recalls are managed. Using data-driven strategies to track the path of products through the supply chain is re-shaping the landscape of food recalls.

With the ongoing challenges throughout the supply chain, DeltaTrak is continuing to provide new and innovative loggers and cloud service products to help you to get maximum visibility into your shipments.

To help you better monitor your shipments in real-time, a visit to the DeltaTrak website could be just the trip you need. From videos to blogs to real-time logger (RTL) product information, the DeltaTrak website has a set of resources to give you increased visibility into the location and condition of your shipments in the supply chain.

Recently, DeltaTrak released the new FlashTrak Connect Mobile Application. The new app builds on DeltaTrak’s best-in-class FlashTrak software. Now, FlashTrak software is available both for cloud service applications as well as mobile applications via FlashTrak Connect. The FlashTrak Connect Mobile App is a new component to enhance our FlashTrak service and provide added convenience for shippers and receivers. The app is available for free download from the App Store or Google Play and will offer users the flexibility to check trip data from anywhere.

Responding to the risks posed by the combined threats of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, skyrocketing gas prices, and critical supply shortages, the United States federal government is taking unprecedented steps to strengthen the resilience of the supply chain and protect American families.

The Biden-Harris administration is focused on improving the agility of federal and state governments to respond to supply shortages by encouraging competition, diversity, and new entrants.

Over the past two and a half years since the first COVID-19 cases emerged, the global supply chain has experienced a myriad of obstacles—and continues to. From manufacturing to ocean shipping to trucking, just about every challenge that could occur, has occurred. Perhaps, however, there are some rays of light starting to emerge for the supply chain.

The food supply chain has become increasingly complicated and much longer, with supply chains for some products consisting of more than one hundred links. In the fresh produce industry in particular, products are transported thousands of miles to meet consumer needs. Unfortunately, the method for tracking supply chain events has historically been pen and paper, resulting in data that is often recorded improperly or simply does not follow the product. An effective solution to this dearth of information is a chain of custody which identifies the origin of a product, everyone who has touched a product, every place the product has been, and all associated records, captured in a way that allows for easy retrieval.

Since the DSCSA (Drug Supply Chain Security Act) was introduced and approved by Congress and the Senate there has been a real concerted effort to reach total compliance aided by the International Standards champion GS1 who has worked to insure US and Global compliance.

With DeltaTrak’s RTL Prime In-Transit Loggers, you will know where your shipment is and if it has suffered a temperature abuse. These loggers provide real-time data and reporting that is viewable in the cloud, helping you make immediate decisions when it comes to your shipments and providing valuable evidence for claims. Trip information is accessible 24/7 from any internet-enabled device.

According to the MIT Climate Portal, freight transportation currently represents approximately 8% of global CO2 emissions. Its reduction is therefore a critical element in achieving the global climate goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To lower freight’s percentage of emissions and work toward fully decarbonizing freight transport by 2050, the Smart Freight Centre, a global non-profit organization dedicated to sustainable freight transport, together with the World Economic Forum and BSR, recently announced the establishment of the Sustainable Freight Buyers Alliance (SFBA).

Today, it is more important than ever to have supply chain visibility into your shipments. To better help you to monitor your shipment location and condition in real-time, DeltaTrak has expanded its lineup of in-transit real-time loggers. The new FlashLink NOW 4G/5G Real-Time in-Transit Loggers (RTL) represent the next generation of data logging with large LCD screens using 4G/5G LTE with a 2G backup. Models are available for three different trip durations: 50-day, 15-day and 120-day.

As the supply chain faces ongoing challenges and potentially additional supply chain shocks, it is more important than ever to monitor and track your shipments through the supply chain. To better assist decision-makers in navigating through the rough seas brought on by the disruptive supply chain situation, DeltaTrak is now offering FlashTrak Maritime Service. This new service provides importers and exporters with shipment location visibility while at sea.

Whether you’re shipping by truck, ship, or plane, it’s more important than ever to know where your shipment is and whether it has suffered any environmental abuse. Throughout the globe, supply chain bottlenecks and delays continue with no near-term end in sight. To help you get visibility into your shipment location and condition, DeltaTrak has released a series of real-time in-transit loggers.

New COVID cases are continuing to wreak havoc in world supply chains. The spread of the COVID Omicron variant has created bottlenecks throughout the world and in particular at many of the world's busiest ports in China. Operations at the world's busiest port of Shanghai are struggling to cope with shipments that have been re-routed from other large Chinese ports such as Shenzhen in the south and Tianjin in the north.

Undoubtedly, COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on the supply chain. COVID had led to ongoing shortages of products, widespread price increases, and continued supply chain unpredictability. Indeed, when the world economy reopened after largely shutting down at the onset of COVID, supply chains couldn’t keep up with the sudden huge surge in product demand. New COVID variants and various health protocols have also weighed heavily on logistic networks.

On December 8th, H.R. 4996-Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 easily passed in the House of Representatives on by a vote of 364 to 60. The Act is designed to strengthen the overseas supply chain, support the growth of U.S. exports and eliminate unfair business practices. If this Act becomes law, it will help to ensure that ocean carriers no longer refuse cargo bookings for U.S. exports and that shipping carriers and marine terminal operators certify that any shipping container late fees are fair and comply with federal regulations.

These days, we’re all familiar with the importance of vaccines. You can read about the success rates of different vaccines and get a certain peace-of-mind. However, as the vaccines move down the supply chain from the production or primary storage facility, the vaccines can lose some of their potency—largely due to temperature abuses the vaccines experience. The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a “Temperature monitoring study: a fully documented process to detect weaknesses in the supply chain” showing why effective temperature monitoring is critical.

A new queuing system has been developed and implemented to help alleviate port congestion and pollution at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. As of November 16, the system now requires cargo vessels that arrive early at the LA and Long Beach ports to wait 150 miles offshore. Previously the ships were able to stay within a small 40-mile perimeter off the ports. The new system has been developed by the Pacific Maritime Association, the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and the Marine Exchange of Southern California as well as shipping companies and was signed off on by the twin ports. The new queuing process will not apply to vessels currently in the arrival queue.

With widespread supply chain congestion, trucking shortages, and other delays, it’s more important than ever to know where your shipment is and if it has suffered any temperature abuse. That’s where real-time data loggers can help you. With these real-time loggers, you will know the temperature, humidity and location of your products in real-time. You will be able to track truck delivery routes and get automated alerts when temperature excursions occur.

During shipments, data loggers are perhaps most commonly used to monitor temperature. Having a record of when and where temperature abuse occurs can help you to resolve any shipment problems quickly and get paid faster.
 
But, what about other environmental factors such as humidity, light, and even shock? Measuring the humidity of a shipment is often critical—particularly when shipping certain types of produce, pharmaceuticals, and even desiccants—the very materials that help to protect products from water damage.

Food loss, especially produce, is typically the result of spoilage due to temperature excursion at an early point in the supply chain. Between 10% and 14% of produce loads are rejected because they do not meet temperature requirements. The supply chain has been plagued by poor visibility and limited data, contributing to rejected loads, which are very costly (millions of dollars annually), difficult to manage, and affect the shipper’s image.

The COVID pandemic and the just-in-time inventory system have tested the global supply chain and every industry has felt the effects. Early scenes of empty shelves, shopping carts running over with toilet paper and distraught customers point to the panic buying that precipitated many of the COVID-19 product shortages. A video which was particularly telling showed a stressed young mother who was unable to find diapers for her baby. Her phone’s camera panned the ransacked store shelves, as she lamented that the only available diapers were in large multi-pack boxes…which she could not afford.

Over the past weeks, you likely have heard about the Suez Canal blockage. Indeed, one of the largest container ships in the world became wedged in one of the world’s busiest marine waterways, the Suez Canal, blocking billions of dollars’ worth of cargo from being transported out of the region. Such a blockage is devastating to the shippers of some commodities, such as food, that are highly perishable when subject to temperature abuses.

Many methods are in place, or have been tested, to provide a reliable indicator of the quality of the produce the retailer puts on the shelf for the consumer. Each of these have unique and “tried” methods of prediction, but with so many factors that influence quality and shelf life in the supply chain it would seem to be impossible to provide an all-encompassing method.

It is now approaching 2 years since the Chinese FDA began a push to adopt their proposal for regulations around Good Supply Practices (GSP) within China.

Although these regulations closely mirrored the EU GDP guidelines, and were focused on a ‘risk approach’ to managing quality, the expectation is for full adherence of these new regulations by the end of 2015.

It seems like every time you pick up a trade journal, some company or the other is offering a last mile solution.

Whether this is a special package that has been validated for "x" amount of hours, or a device no different than a basic chemical indicator that will give you a good or bad forensic analysis after the event.

Ease of mind is what you want when you transport a large quantity of consumable product. Trust is what you need in the solutions that are monitoring your various perishable commodities, especially once they leave your domain. DeltaTrak’s reliable temperature monitoring solutions are made specifically for all points in the cold chain process.