Cold chain logistics innovation ensures quality and safety

Cold chain logistics is a crucial process that ensures the proper transportation, storage, and distribution of products requiring specific temperature conditions to maintain their quality and safety.

These products include perishable goods, agri-food items, and pharmaceuticals. Maintaining a constant temperature and strictly adhering to delivery schedules are critical priorities for companies operating in this sector.

To preserve the integrity of these goods, it is essential to have specialized facilities, advanced refrigeration equipment, and vehicles equipped with precise thermal control systems—ensuring that the cold chain remains unbroken at every stage of the logistics process.

Raquel Magaña, Operations Manager at Garros Services, highlights that the import and export processes of perishable products involve numerous logistical challenges that can compromise the continuity of the cold chain. Key challenges include prolonged waiting times, infrastructure conditions at customs checkpoints, and the inspection procedures required for obtaining the necessary permits.

Joint Inspection Program

To address these challenges, the company spearheaded the creation of the Joint Inspection Program, an initiative developed in collaboration with Mexico’s National Customs Agency (ANAM), the National Service for Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety and Quality (SENASICA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), implemented at the Solidaridad-Colombia Border Crossing.

“This program enables authorities from both countries to inspect goods simultaneously on U.S. soil, inside refrigerated rooms at Garros Services' specialized facilities, which are equipped with the infrastructure and technology necessary to ensure the cold chain remains intact throughout the entire process,” said Magaña.

She noted that the facility has the capacity to handle 20 trucks simultaneously, each on individual ramps with refrigerated entry, ensuring the cold chain is never broken. Additional services include certified weighbridge operations, transportation, transshipment (including in-bond shipments to Canada authorized by CBP), temporary storage, restacking, and comprehensive customs clearance.

Program benefits

Iraida Rodríguez, Manager of Government Relations, added that the program provides substantial benefits by expediting border crossing and customs clearance processes, significantly reducing transportation times from an average of 5 hours to just 1 hour. It also ensures the thermal integrity of goods by conducting inspections inside specialized refrigerated rooms.

“Initially launched as a pilot program through an agreement between Mexico and Washington, the Colombia, Nuevo León port is currently the only location along the entire Mexico-U.S. border offering joint inspections in external refrigerated facilities,” Rodríguez emphasized.

With initiatives like the Joint Inspection Program, the cold chain benefits from strategies that drive greater logistical efficiency, strengthen international trade, and ensure the quality and safety of products essential to health and nutrition.