5 tips for shipping chilled goods

The summer temperatures have us firmly under control. This puts a strain on many circulatory systems and is also a problem when shipping and transporting heat-sensitive goods. For example, medicines, food or flowers. We have 5 tips on how your goods reach the recipient undamaged despite the height of summer and how the cold chain remains intact throughout the journey.

How does thermal packaging work?

Many materials are used to ship refrigerated goods, such as foam, gel, dry ice and shipping boxes with reflective/metallic surfaces. We have described all these materials in more detail in our heat and cold insulation article.

We fundamentally differentiated the packaging, which as insulation, is intended to prevent the passage of thermal energy. For example, Styropor ®, an expanded foam, prevents this exchange between warm and cold air through the countless small bubbles. Each bubble heats up very slowly and then passes this energy on to its immediate surroundings.

To delay the rise in temperature inside, reflective surfaces are still used, i.e., ideally, surfaces with a metallic shine. These reflect the thermal radiation and prevent cold air from penetrating outwards and warm air from penetrating inwards.

Why cool ice packs?

Cold and gel packs are a necessary addition to any thermal packaging that is not electrically operated because they cool the inside.

A small excursion into physics: The liquid or the gel is frozen. On the transport route, this slowly thaws. Energy is required to change the physical state from solid to liquid. This energy, in turn, is withdrawn from the environment. As a result, the environment, i.e., the inside of your thermal packaging, is cooled. The energy to be applied depends on the material used. This is how the different cooling times come about.

5 tips for chilled shipping

• Find out exactly what liquid is used in the chilled packaging. The subtle differences affect the cooling performance. Some cooling pack can keep your goods cool for up to 96 hours, i.e., 4 days.
• Store your thermal boxes at the temperature you want your goods to be. This means that no additional energy is required to cool down the packaging.
• Use the smallest possible packaging. The less cavity that needs to be cooled, the longer the goods can be cooled.
• Pack the goods at the desired temperature. This also ensures that the packaging does not have to be cooled in addition to the goods.
• To be safe, use a temperature indicator or a temperature logger. This allows you to monitor the transport route and, if necessary, refuse to accept the goods.