Shipping medical freight with your trucking service in the summer is actually substantially different than shipping in the winter. Although medical material needs to be protected at all times, as it is very valuable and the health of patients may depend on it, in the summer, it is exposed to a much greater risk than any it faces when being shipped in the winter. This is the heat that is present outdoors throughout much of the country in the summer months.
The reason heat is so dangerous to medical cargo is because most medical material is biological. Anything that is biological such as blood, tissue, or organs is extremely vulnerable to heat. These types of materials are measured in terms of their half life, which is used to describe how long it can last before it breaks down completely. That half life gets drastically reduced when the material is heated.
When you are preparing medical freight in the summer months, half the battle is in the packaging. This is because you can be assured that the courier company that you ship any medical goods with should have all the proper equipment to maintain the right temperature for your goods once they are in the vehicle. Therefore, the time that you are chiefly worried about your products is when they are being loaded in or out of a vehicle, or how they should fare if the vehicles refrigeration systems were to fail. All of these situations are covered mostly by the packaging of the cargo.
The primary characteristic of the packaging of medical material needs to be its insulation. This type of material needs to be extremely well insulated. This will ensure that all the material that is on the inside of the package stays at the exact optimal temperature for prolonging its life while it is being moved between cold storage units.
While insulation is important, the ruggedness of the packaging is also important. It is important that the packing won’t crack, break or open easily when it is not supposed to. If a package suddenly fell open or cracked, all the insulation in the world won’t stop the hot air from the outside from quickly filling the inside of the container. When this happens, the material itself is warming up, and as soon as its temperature starts to rise, damage is being done. Pay attention to the packaging, and your deliveries should all go smoothly.
Chris Ellis is a consultant for trucking service and courier service companies.
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