What to Know About Cold Weather Shipping
You’d never let a loved one go out in a snowstorm without being properly prepared, right? The same rule should apply to your freight. Monitoring the weather is complicated and simply not enough. Not only do you need to monitor the temperature and conditions at your origin and destination points, but all the points in between, taking valuable time away from other essential logistics tasks. Therefore, here’s a breakdown of what shippers should consider as we head into the colder months.
General best practices for bad weather
Hope for the best, and plan for the worst
Low temperatures often accompany inclement weather like snow, sleet, and ice. These conditions are prime scenarios for causing transportation delays. Have a reaction plan ready. Identify heated storage locations along the route where a trailer can be kept warm if needed. For liquids, a strategy as simple as keeping them continuously moving can delay or prevent freezing. Delays like this can also impact drivers’ available hours behind the wheel, so be sure to line up exchange points with other drivers to keep things moving—factor mileage costs in as well in case a carrier needs to take an alternate route. Lastly, don’t despair if a truck is stuck on the road. Talk to your carrier or 3PL partner about a failsafe. It's better to be prepared than deal with product losses than a damaged reputation.
Know your Bill of Landing (BOL)
A Bill of Landing should be accompanying all freight shipments and contains vital information for providers. Avoid using terms like “Freight All Kinds” as the commodity description. Be specific, especially when shipping goods on less than truckload (LTL) service. A detailed description of your cargo helps carriers better understand how the weather may affect the shipment and how to provide another defensive line.
Provide legible and clear special handling instructions as some carriers may interpret “protect from freeze” differently than “temperature protect.” Protecting a product from freezing means preventing temperatures from dropping below 32°F. Therefore, using a dry van with no temperature control may not be suitable for lanes where freezing conditions can occur— in that scenario, protecting the product would require temperature-controlled equipment, such as a heated or refrigerated trailer.
Keep unloading short
Keep in mind how cold temperatures affect the cargo during loading and unloading. Minimize how long a trailer or container sits at a dock door exposed to the weather. Even temperature-controlled equipment loses temperature stability during loading and unloading. While loading trailers to maximize space may be acceptable for most of the year, you must be cautious during cold weather to minimize exposure associated with the increased handling time for floor loading vs. skidded materials.
Packaging
As alluded to above, the easiest way to evaluate carrier package protection is to split the services into two broader categories: Protect from Freeze service and Temperature Control.
Protect from Freeze (PFF) – This pertains to products that need to stay above freezing temperature and may require special packaging such as insulated containers, thermal bubble wrap, and gel packs to help keep temperatures between 32°F and 60°F. As a passive temperature control, many carriers also offer blankets and shelters to keep inventory from freezing on the road. Think of how you were bundled as a kid— more layers = more protection from the elements. These forms of insulation can be highly effective in slowing the transfer of heat or cold but must cover the product completely.
Temperature Control – Some materials, such as pharmaceuticals or hazardous chemicals, degrade or spoil if they're not kept within tight thermal ranges. This active temperature control monitors thermal ranges in real-time through insulated walls and temperature controls inside the container.
If you're packing the truck instead of the carrier, consider keeping freight away from the walls if possible – the walls will eventually hit the same temperatures as the open air. Center loading freight eliminates the impact of temperature — and the farther away from the walls, the less the chance of conduction. Floors will do the same, so use pallets for floor clearance.
1" = 15% heat/cold transfer
2" = 10% heat/cold transfer
4" = 5% heat/cold transfer
The best way to protect your cargo with temperature control is to load it onto a temperature-controlled unit, such as a reefer truck or a heated dry van trailer. A reefer unit is a trailer equipped with a refrigeration unit that controls the trailer’s internal temperature. While these units are typically used to keep goods cold during the summer, they can also keep freight at the right temperature when it’s freezing outside.
Snow worries, Sparrow’s got you covered
No matter the weather, no matter the season, Sparrow Logistics will be on your side to make shipping smoother. Are you looking for a reliable and adaptable partner for your next transport? Call our team today!