Finding the right frozen food freight forwarder is a key strategy for many companies who export agricultural and food products around the world. Managing freight that requires special handling and environmental controls can be a bit complicated, but an experienced and skilled freight forwarder take a lot of the worry and risk out of moving perishable cargo.
Here are a few issues to consider when shipping perishable or frozen cargoes:
Timing – Many fruits, vegetables and seeds have finite shelf lives. This will often determine what type of transportation to use. For instance, flowers will most certainly need to go by air freight while many types of fruits and vegetable can transit via ocean if the environment is correctly controlled for humidity, venting, and temperature.
Regulations – Most agricultural products will be subject to restrictions unique to the country destination. FDA regulations are designed to protect each country from potential insect or fungal infestations. Nobody want to have the unfortunate experience of having a large shipment of agricultural product rejected for admission into the targeted destination. To avoid these types of problems, it is important that the freight forwarder has experience and expertise in global regulatory requirements.
Temperature – Venting, humidity, and temperature control are key factors in safely moving perishable goods globally. Temperature standards are typically broken into 4 general temperature ranges from “Banana” at 13 degrees C to “Chilled” at 2 degrees C and Frozen” at -18 degrees C and “Deep frozen at -29 degrees C. Defining and maintaining the correct temperature is usually considered the responsibility of the exporter although some importers will define the temp requirements as well. Today’s technology includes the ability to use temperature sensors within the cargo that tracks and records the temperature fluctuations from start to finish of the goods’ journey.
Sanitation – Of extreme importance when moving food cargo is to make sure the container the goods will be traveling on is clean, free of odors and fumigated per requirements of the buyer and the regulatory agents at the destination. An experienced freight forwarder will always ensure that the container the customer’s cargo is traveling in will be sanitized as needed.
If you are going to be shipping products that have special environmental requirements, the professional at Eagles Air & Sea Ltd. will be happy to work with you to make sure that transshipment of your goods will be a trouble free event while avoiding excessive costs or unforeseen problems. Check out more information here.
