Shipping and logistics
Shipping chilled and frozen goods.
A refrigerated container holds a set temperature and records it. The recording becomes part of the goods in any dispute, and the breaks that matter usually happen before the container is plugged in or after it is unplugged rather than during the voyage.
Where the chain actually breaks.
Not usually at sea. A reefer on a vessel is monitored, powered and generally reliable. The failures cluster at the ends and at the transfers, where the box is unplugged, moved, and plugged in again.
At origin, the risk is the gap between the cold store and the container, and whether the container was pre-cooled before loading. Warm cargo into a cold box takes a long time to come down and the recorder shows it.
At destination, the risk is the container sitting unplugged while paperwork is resolved. A customs delay on a reefer is a quality event rather than an administrative one.
What the trace proves.
It proves the air temperature in the container over time, which is not quite the same as the temperature of the product. A trace showing a deviation is strong evidence and a trace showing none is not a guarantee that nothing happened before loading.
Agree in advance who downloads the trace, when, and what happens on a deviation. Discovering that nobody has the data after a claim arises is the worst version of this, and it happens.
For products where temperature abuse produces a chemical result, histamine in tuna above all, the trace and the laboratory analysis answer different questions and you want both.
Practical terms to put in the contract.
The setpoint and the tolerance, in writing. Pre-cooling of the container before loading. Who monitors during the voyage and how you are told about an alarm. Who is responsible for plugging the box in at destination and within what time.
Then the commercial half: what happens on a deviation. Rejection, a discount, an independent survey, or acceptance with testing. Deciding that while a container of seafood sits in a port is the most expensive possible time to negotiate.
Questions buyers ask.
Can I ship seafood in a normal container?
No. Frozen and chilled product needs a reefer for the whole journey, and there is no cheaper substitute. This is also why chilled goods cannot share a container with ambient cargo, which surprises buyers hoping to consolidate a mixed order.
What is the most common reefer dispute?
A deviation on the trace with no agreement about what it means. The data exists, both sides read it differently, and neither agreed in advance what a deviation of a given size for a given period would trigger. That sentence in the contract is worth writing.
Does a good trace mean the product is fine?
It means the container held temperature. Histamine formed on the vessel before the fish was ever chilled does not show on a reefer trace, because it happened days earlier. On tuna and anchovy the handling after capture matters more than the container ever will.
Read next.
Getting it on a ship
FCL, LCL, own consolidation or reefer, and the five costs that appear after the freight quote. Written for an archipelago.
One container, several producers
What can share a container and what cannot, why regulatory documents never merge into one set, and the five steps that make it work.
Inspecting before it sails
The five moments worth inspecting, what a report has to contain, and the mistake that makes an inspection worthless.
Indonesian yellowfin tuna
Cuts, cold chain and the two EU requirements you cannot arrange late: a flag-state validated catch certificate and an approved processing plant.
Indonesian skipjack tuna
Skipjack is a canning and katsuobushi fish bought on size grade and histamine history. What the catch certificate covers, and what decides acceptance.
Indonesian vannamei shrimp
How farmed vannamei is counted, processed and shipped, and why the paperwork differs from wild-caught seafood: no catch certificate, but residues.
Indonesian eel
Anguilla bicolor farmed for the Japanese and East Asian market. Why the species has to be identified and what the glass eel question is.
Aseptic or frozen coconut water
The processing decision that sets the whole cost structure. Shelf life, taste and what a reefer container actually costs you.
How a reefer container works
A reefer is a machine, not a cold box. What it can do and the three ways shipments are lost.
Shelf life
A date on a pack is a claim somebody has to support. How it is set and when it does not apply.
Indonesian aquaculture
Ponds, cages and lines producing shrimp, fish and seaweed. What each system means for a buyer.
Sourcing from Indonesia?
Tell us the product, the quantity and the destination. We come back with what it involves before anyone talks about money.