How Seafood Importers can Increase their Profitability
In these
difficult economic times all companies are looking for ways to
improve their profitability. This is true for importers of seafood as
well. One of the most difficult things for seafood importers to do
today is to effectively manage the cold chain of their products in
transit. Temperature variance of just a few degrees can mean the
difference between profitability and loss.
Proper cold
chain management involves the effective management of four primary
logistics variables:
·
The first critical
factor is to ensure that your fresh seafood is being stored in a
cooler set at the appropriate storage temperature. The fresh seafood
cooler at A-1 Cold Storage runs at a constant temperature of 29
degrees F.
·
The use of
refrigerated trucks so that when your product is retrieved from the
airport the product can immediately re-enter the cold chain.
·
Make sure that your
handler offers local deliveries to seafood distributors and other
national retailers who maybe selling your product. For example, A-1
Cold Storage not only delivers to the local distributors but also has
regular deliveries to all five of the Costco distribution centers in
Southern California.
·
Also important for
seafood importers is having a handler who is consistently performing
quality inspections. These typically should include verification of
the product temperature, texture, and general freshness as well as checking the firmness and effectiveness
of the gel packs and replace as necessary.
This is a very labor intensive procedure and many cold storage
facilities are not fully equipped to perform these tasks.
Abiding by the above guidelines will help you to get
your product to market faster and fresher, which will have a positive
impact on your profitability.
Thanks to our tremendous clients and partners such as
you, A-1 Cold Storage has all of the resources necessary to properly
manage the cold chain for importers of seafood, produce, flowers,
meat and pharmaceuticals. Let us provide you with an assessment of
your current cold chain management system.
This is the
first in a series of E-blasts that we will be doing to keep our
clients informed on new services and capabilities at A-1 Cold
Storage.
