Two-week customs delay in an un- controlled ambient warehouse? Tower delivered.
A specialist logistics provider was asked to move medical kits containing cream as part of a clinical trial to India. The MSDS stated that the temperature range for transportation was +15°C to +25°C.
Tower provided a container conditioned using +17°C phase-change plates. The product was packed in the UK where the ambient temperature at departure was +18°C; on arrival in Ahmedabad the ambient temperature was +36°C.
The customs entry was completed, and documents submitted, but due to an error on the shipper’s invoice (did not match the import permit) the import could not be completed.
Indian customs quarantined the container in an uncontrolled ambient warehouse during the customs clearance process. Just the clearance process alone took two weeks (336 hours).
On clearance the container was finally delivered to the consignee. The product was removed and placed in a controlled-ambient storage room whilst the client checked if there had been any outages or the product had been spoiled during the delay.
The data from both the Logger and the client’s logger was downloaded and compared; the data showed that the container maintained an internal temperature of +19°C during the transportation period and +22°C during the clearance process which allowed the product to be approved for use.