What is cold chain logistics? More than just cold chain transportation

With the development of fresh food e-commerce market, cold chain logistics is also increasingly emphasized by the industry. Many logistics e-commerce giants, such as SF, Jingdong, etc., have strengthened their own layout in cold chain logistics.cold chain Although the word "cold chain logistics" we often hear, but what is it?

Many people simply think that cold chain logistics is nothing more than the use of refrigerated trucks for the transportation of frozen goods, but do not know that refrigerated transportation is only a part of cold chain logistics.

Cold Chain Logistics refers to the systematic project of keeping refrigerated and frozen food in the production, storage and transportation, sales, and in all the links before consumption, which is always in the stipulated low-temperature environment, so as to guarantee the quality of food and reduce the loss of food. It is established with the progress of science and technology and the development of refrigeration technology,cold warehouse and is a low-temperature logistics process based on freezing technology and using refrigeration technology as a means. The requirements of cold chain logistics are relatively high, and the corresponding investment in terms of management and capital is also larger than that of ordinary room temperature logistics.

The following are the specific components of cold chain logistics:

1. Temperature control and heat preservation

Constant temperature cold storage: cold storage with precise requirements on the temperature and humidity of stored goods, including constant temperature and humidity cold storage.

Gas-conditioned cold storage: it can not only regulate the temperature and humidity in the storage, but also control the content of oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gases in the storage, so that the fruits and vegetables in the storage are in a dormant state, and still maintain the original quality after leaving the storage. The so-called gas-conditioning preservation is through the gas adjustment method, to achieve the effect of preservation. Gas conditioning is the oxygen concentration in the air from 21% down to 3% to 5%, that is, the preservation of freshness is based on high-temperature cold storage, coupled with a set of gas conditioning system, the use of temperature and the control of oxygen content of the two aspects of the common role, in order to achieve the inhibition of fruits and vegetables after the harvest respiratory state.

2. Cold chain storage

Cold chain warehousing is generally used for fresh agricultural products, through the warehouse storage and custody of goods and articles. It is the temporary storage of products and articles in the process of product production and circulation due to the order front or market forecast front. It is a comprehensive place that centrally reflects the status of material activities in the factory, and is a transit station connecting production, supply and sales, and plays an important auxiliary role in promoting the efficiency of production.

3. Cold chain transmission

Under a certain temperature, through the use of the required transmission machinery, equipment and appliances, etc., it achieves the sorting and packing of fresh agricultural products.

4. Cold chain loading and unloading

When loading and unloading the cold chain, the temperature of the goods should be checked. The unloading time of refrigerated and frozen goods should be in accordance with the stipulated requirements, and the unloading vehicle and the unloading warehouse should be sealed, so as to ensure that the temperature of the goods during the unloading period can be controlled in the permissible range. And when the unloading operation is interrupted, the door of the transportation equipment compartment should be closed immediately to keep the refrigeration system in normal operation.

5. Cold chain information control

Information technology is the nerve system of modern cold chain logistics. Through the support of systematic information platform, it is easy to realize the strategic and cooperative management of all the resources of the enterprise, reduce the cost of cold chain logistics, enhance the market competition of cold chain logistics enterprises and improve the management level of cold chain logistics enterprises.

The key technologies of cold chain logistics informatization system include the following aspects: information collection and tracking technology, information transmission and exchange technology, and information processing technology.

6. Cold chain transportation

Cold-chain transportation is an important part of cold-chain logistics. Cold-chain transportation costs are high, and it contains more complicated mobile refrigeration technology and insulation box manufacturing technology, and cold-chain transportation management contains more risks and uncertainties. Cold-chain transportation (Cold-chain transportation), refers to the whole process of transportation, whether it is loading and unloading handling, change the mode of transport, replacement of packaging equipment, etc., so that the transported goods always maintain a certain temperature of transportation. Cold chain transportation mode can be road transportation, waterway transportation, railroad transportation, air transportation, or a variety of modes of transportation composed of integrated transportation mode.

7. Cold chain quarantine

Inspection of cold chain quarantine inspection needs to establish a standardized and orderly food quarantine inspection work, arrange for special management of transport volume, distance and high probability of contamination of the means of transport, do a good job of routine cleaning, disinfection and other sanitary treatment, and the implementation of real-time monitoring of the cold chain logistics and temperature records, to ensure that the quality of the food in the process of transportation state meets the requirements to ensure that imported foods are safe and hygienic.

At present, the development of cold chain logistics in developed countries such as Japan, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada has been very mature, and before the development of e-commerce, the existing cold chain logistics has been refined to be very perfect, and the strict implementation of national standards has made the vigorous development of e-commerce supported by offline cold chain logistics, which in turn has pushed forward the progress of e-commerce.

Compared with some developed countries in the world, China's cold chain logistics industry started late. At present, China's demand for cold chain logistics is seriously lagging behind, and the investment cost of cold chain facilities is huge, and many enterprises keep a cautious attitude towards investment in cold chain logistics, which leads to the serious shortage of investment in cold chain equipments in China compared with developed countries, the rate of cold chain circulation and transportation is far less than that in developed countries, the rate of decay and loss of fresh food in transportation is too high, which results in serious waste, and the capacity of cold storage and the number of refrigerated trucks are still a big gap compared with that of developed countries. There is still a big gap between the capacity of cold storage and the number of refrigerated trucks and developed countries.

In recent years, along with favorable policies and continuous upgrading of consumption structure, the demand for cold chain products and logistics has been expanding rapidly. Cold chain investment is expanding rapidly, the cold chain market scale is expanding, the capacity of cold storage as well as the number of refrigerated trucks also shows a steady increase, and China's cold chain logistics is gradually stepping into the stage of rapid increase.