4 Things That Can Go Wrong When Shipping Pharmaceuticals by Ocean

Shipping pharmaceuticals is a complicated and very costly business. After spending billions in research and trials, you want to make sure that your products arrive to their destination maintaining their efficacy and high quality.

While ocean shipment in refrigerated reefers has advanced leaps and bounds in recent years, preserving the quality and attributes of life-saving medication remains a critical concern. Here are three things that can go wrong when shipping pharmaceuticals by ocean that companies dread.

Exceeding required temperatures.

Temperature is probably the most critical factor when transporting pharmaceutical products. Life-saving medicines must be kept at very precise temperatures during the different legs of their journey to various destinations around the globe. This in turn requires real-time, accurate temperature monitoring 24/7, in the truck during transportation to the port, in the container during the ocean voyage, and in the warehouse if storage is required for certain periods of time.

Today’s technology puts at the disposal of companies a variety of monitoring solutions that provide visibility and ensure that your high-value cargo is protected at all times. Whether the power goes off in the container, the door is open, or the temperature is exceeding preset values, reefers equipped with smart real-time tracking devices ensure that you save millions in costs.

Damages during shipment.

Ocean shipping of pharmaceuticals has become more popular in recent years, primarily due to its lower costs and increasing security. But they are still subject to various types of damages during ocean freight, including poor weather conditions, accidents, and long waiting periods at ports. All these can affect the attributes and properties of valuable medications.

There are many physical measures that can be taken to protect the integrity of pharmaceuticals, including insulation, covers, cushioning, and more. But none of these provide you with visibility of what is going on with your reefer at all times. Only electronic tracing gives you a 360-degree image of the condition of your cargo at all times.

Although more secure than in the past, ocean shipping is till susceptible to theft. Pharmaceuticals are coveted goods as they can be easily unloaded on black markets at hefty prices.

The more hands your reefer goes through, the more likely it is to be stolen. You can disguise your cargo, cover it exactly like to protect it from damage, but only 24/7 monitoring ensures that you know the status of your cargo at any point in time during the cold chain, anywhere in the world.

Poor quality control.

The demand for refrigerated containers for shipping pharmaceuticals is steadily on the rise. This requires quality cold-chain equipment that adhere to global regulations to increase quality control.

Ensuring the quality of your medications from origin to destination involves no errors along the cold chain, a low rate of product damage, reliable schedules, and regulatory compliance. All these can only be achieved with a dependable shipping company with top-of-the-line reefer ships that ensures quality end to end.