Month: July 2022

CCA AGM presentation highlights in Rome, Italy – 6th July 2022

The Cool Chain Association held its AGM in Rome on the 6th July 2022, attracting key industry leaders to share their latest reports and updates within the cool chain and logistics industry.

The event attracted speakers from Brussels Airport, Challenge Group, Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB) and Tive Inc.

A summary of the highlights from the event are presented below.

Brussels Airport’s new Perishable Management app to reduce waste and deliver transparency

Sam Quintelier, Cargo Business Development Manager, Brussels Airport attended CCA’s AGM to demonstrate the new Perishable Management App developed to tackle wastage, and increase transparency between airline cargo handlers, freight forwarders and authorities.

The main benefits of the app include a streamlined document exchange, real time tracking and clear and customisable overview of all shipments.

Challenge Group presents new label for Perishables shipments trial results

The results of Challenge Group’s new perishables shipments label test, detailing both commodity and temperature readings for packaging perishables shipments, were presented by Israel Amsterdamer, Vertical & Project Operation Manager, CAL Cargo Airlines.

Feedback was largely positive from both handlers and warehouse operators who trialled the new label for perishables shipments between Belgium and Israel.

“Challenge Group and CCA see the bigger picture – solving a very real problem, saving costs in the long run, and playing an important part in stopping food loss.” said Israel Amsterdamer.

The benefits of the new labelling initiative, focussing on reducing waste and increasing efficiency, are key to the CCA’s vision.

Lucien Jansen, CEO, PPECB shares his insights about the Perishables industry and digitisation

Lucien Jansen, CEO of Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB), South Africa’s official perishable produce export certification agency, was warmly welcomed to the AGM.

Lucien gave an update on the function of the PPECB, its challenges, ongoing plans and digitalisation programme.

He emphasised the importance of patience when implementing internal change, outlining the need to weigh up the benefits of digitalisation against initial resistance and set up costs.

Brice Marion explains how Tive brings tangible change to the supply chain industry with its real-time visibility trackers

Brice Marion, Sales Director of CCA’s latest member Tive presented informed delegates of the benefits of end-to-end visibility of shipments with the use of Tive’s trackers and cloud platform to give real-time updates on location, condition, and security of products.

Brice focussed on the importance of combining the past, present and future when analysing a shipments journey in order to mitigate damage and loss.

Tive brings its expertise in real-time visibility to bridge the gap in supply chain transparency and reduce waste, in line with CCA’s core objective.

Chiara Venuti, Skycell spoke on the importance of a stronger female presence in logistics and plans to shake up representation on the CCA board

Chiara Venuti, Business Development Director and Airline Partner, Skycell, described the need for greater female representation at Pharma events.

Chiara described the continued lack of diversity in the industry and how this represented both an anachronistic approach and a missed opportunity.

COOL CHAIN ASSOCIATION MEMBER CHALLENGE GROUP COMPLETES FIRST TECHNICAL COMMITTEE PROJECT TRIALLING NEW LABEL FOR PERISHABLES

The trial results were discussed at CCA’s AGM and Perishables Meeting in Rome last week, where CCA also announced a new initiative to monitor asparagus consignments across the cool chain

Luxembourg, Wednesday, 13th July 2022: Members ofCool Chain Association (CCA) Technical Committee Programme have completed the first stage of a project to trial a new label for perishables shipments, driven by Challenge Group.

The results were discussed at the CCA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Perishables event last week in Rome, Italy, where a launch Risk Management Programme tracking asparagus consignments was also announced.

The label trial, undertaken by handlers and warehouse operators, tested the benefits of using a new label, including details of both commodity and temperature requirements on packaging for perishables shipments between Belgium and Israel over the last three months.

Under current regulations for perishables shipments, commodity must be indicated on packaging, but temperature range is either not indicated or indicated on a second label, potentially leading to temperature deviation errors.

“During both acceptance and storage, the new label helped avoid temperature deviations, as well as avoiding time-consuming activities such as checking documents,” said Israel Amsterdamer, Vertical Operations Manager, Challenge Group, who project-managed the trial.

“Feedback from participants was largely positive, but there were concerns around the costs involved in developing the new labels and additional implications related to the revision of the process flow.

“Challenge Group and CCA see the bigger picture – solving a very real problem, saving costs in the long run, and playing an important part in stopping food loss.”

The trial was the first milestone completed under the CCA’s Technology Committee Programme, which is part of a broader project to facilitate perishable identification and handling, with the mission to improve quality in the cool supply chain.

“With this trial we have started a process to explore a solution to a specific problem and we will now move onto next steps to further align industry best practices and stakeholder needs with international requirements and legislation” said Nicola Caristo, Secretary General of the CCA and Senior Quality Manager, SkyCell.

“CCA is perfectly placed to drive this sort of project because we are a neutral platform involving all stakeholders.

“We want to move away from a top-down approach and instead encourage collaboration to drive change.”

Within the ongoing CCA Risk Management project, the decision to continue with the analysis of different trade lanes and products and in particular with the transportation of asparagus was also announced at the meeting by CCA Board Member Eric Mauroux.

CCA’s Risk Management Committee members, who include Able Freight, TIVE, Nature’s Pride, SMARTCAE and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) will plan and test the movement of asparagus from Peru and the USA to Europe, initially in a virtual environment.

This will be followed by a real-time trial, with the results of both trials analysed to provide practical suggestions for improving the cool chain for asparagus.

“We must free up financial resources, invest, stop asking each other which one of us is going to pay for improvement and instead look at overall costs and potential gains,” said Mauroux.

“CCA wants to offer solutions that are workable in the real world and not only theories to be talked about.

“With this project, we aim to show that it makes sense for stakeholders to invest in order to make gains in terms of shelf life and to reduce wastage.”

Delegates at the AGM also heard an update about Board member Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB)’s new research department, which will be able to participate in future CCA projects.

“We have invested in undertaking research in-house to look at improving processes and new ways of doing things,” said Lucien Jansen, Chief Executive Officer, PPECB.

“For example, we might not know the optimum temperature for transporting a new product variety, so we can undertake research and trials and start to make recommendations for temperature regimes and handling protocols.”

CCA member Tive, which specialises in tracking devices, spoke about the benefits of real-time data analytics, and new member Brussels Airport, presented its Perishables Management App.

The CCA, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, holds two events a year, with the next scheduled for the 6th of September 2022, in Athens, Greece.  

To find out more about joining CCA, taking part in a project for the Technical Committee, or taking part in the Athens event, contact Ebele Nwakude at cca@meantime.global.


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