I don't know how many of you are familiar with cool chain so I thought maybe it's good to talk about it a little bit and also the relevant standards.

The Cool Chain Association (CCA) was founded in February 2003 with the common goal to harmonise the global movement and handling of perishables and temperature-sensitive products (PTSP) to the benefit of the consumer and supply chain participants.

The CCA has developed a new standard for the industry named CCQI (Cool Chain Quality Indicators) covering all logistics providers. This new standard is the first attempt ever to set standards for the entire logistics industry in the handling of PTSP. It is the aim of the CCA to make the CCQI standard a part of the selection criteria for growers, retailers and brand owners to find their most efficient combination of supply chain providers.

The ultimate aim is that customers will be able to ask if their transport providers are ''Cool Chain Certified'' (achieving set performance against the CCQI standards) and be able to accurately compare performance between those that are. Retailers, importers or growers may even want to apply the same standards to their own distribution operations and ''back of stores''.

Opening a container door at the wrong time is just as much a problem for sea freight as it is for air or trucking. And the impact is no different whether you do it in Bangkok, Dubai or China.

The new standard covers all logistics providers in the cool chain. The CCA will continue to work toward making CCQI a part of the selection criteria for retailers and brand owners to find their ideal mix of supply chain providers.

Well, if you think this area needs to be more introduced and discussed let me know so that I'll put it in focus areas for the future articles.