Do you have the right logistics partner for this flower season?

Regardless of whether you are an importer or exporter, the success of your flower program hinges on your ability to get your product to market faster and fresher.

A-1 Cold Storage offers the highest quality flower handling program in the industry. The test of a good flower logistics program is measured by how involved the client must be in the process.

Do you feel compeled to contact your flower handler at every step of the process, particularly during the busy Mother's Day or Valentines Day season? If you answer YES to this question you may want to call Lisa Wawrina at A-1 Cold Storage.

A-1's goal is to ensure that the importing or exporting client does not need to get deeply involved in the logistics process. A-1 always proactively plans prior to each flower holiday and also spends considerable time evaluating their own performance and that of their critical resources. For example this means establishing a high set of performance standards for truckers, handlers, customs brokers and airlines. Often this includes an advance meeting with truckers, brokers and airline personnel to ensure these standards are understood and met. Isn't that the kind of performance you need from your logistics partner this Mother's Day?

Lisa has been involved in the flower business for over 20 years. She began her careeer with a five year stint at Mellano Flowers where she was involved in nearly every aspect of the business including purchasing, sales and logistics. She has purchased flowers from around the world and is familiar with the intricacies of the handling of nearly every type of flower including the exotic and rare varieties. Everyone in the industry who knows Lisa is aware of her passion for flowers and her single-minded commitment to quality, accuracy and speed when it comes to the importation or exportation of flowers. Lisa operates as if she is an employee of YOUR company, taking full responsibility and acting in accordance with your wishes. If you have any questions about flowers you would do well to consult with Lisa.

Lisa Wawrina, Import Specialist for Flowers
Phone: (310) 348-1000
E-mail: LisaW@A1ColdStorage.com

A-1 Adds Seafood Specialist With 30 Years of Experience!

It has been said that there is no substitute for experience. That has never been truer than it is in the seafood business today.

With global events worldwide like the radiation leak in Japan, various changes in weather, and seafood farming conditions, it is critical for importers to have experienced professionals available to ensure the quality, safety and expedient distribution of imported seafood through the U.S.

A-1 is fortunate to add one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people in seafood business to their team. His name is John Mauro and importers will already know him from some of his previous roles in the industry.

John has more than 30 years of experience in the industry and started slinging fish in his parents business (American Fish in Modesto, CA) when he was just 5 years old!

He developed a deep knowledge of every aspect of the industry from logistics to distribution when he worked for Pacific Seafood for over a decade. There he interfaced with all of the key seafood players in the western U.S. market. Please take a moment to welcome John to the team and tap into his knowledge and passion for the industry He stands ready to assist our importers with their logistics, quality, distribution and transportation needs

Frost in Mexico

Be aware that the weather service just announced that there is frost in Mexico and this may affect berry production. It is important that all importers check with their Mexico partners to ensure the protection of their future shipments.

Holiday imports

A1 Cold Storage would like to wish a happy upcoming holiday season to all seasonal importers of perishables.

Pharmaceuticals Need Cold Storage Too!

When we think of cold storage services such as what A-1 Cold Storage provides we tend to think about produce, seafood, meat and other perishable food products. Yet we don’t think about the transportation of pharmaceutical or biomedical products such as blood plasma, serums like the H1N1 influenza serum and other bio-products. These commodities require a consistent and very narrow temperature range (between +2° C and +8° C). This is critical to maintaining the integrity of the product. Some of the biomedical and pharmaceutical products which A1 Cold Storage has handled are as follows:

• Plasmas
• Serums
• Saline
• Syringes
• Frozen bio-samples
• Chemical-based bio-products
• Animal organ samples

These commodities typically have a much higher value than food products such as produce, seafood and meat. While a pallet of tomatoes may be valued at a few thousand dollars at resale, some of these bio-products may have a value in excess of several hundred thousand dollars. In addition they are much more sensitive to exposure to environmental conditions such as heat, light and handling.

Importation of bio-medical products
For nearly a decade, A1 Cold Storage has assisted importers of pharmaceutical and biomedical products as well as their logistics partners by effectively handling these sensitive commodities. Often times bio-medical products will arrive at the airport with some type of government agency (USDA or FDA) hold and the shipment cannot be cleared without obtaining the proper certificates such as the necessary import licenses, veterinary certificates or even quota compliance documentation. In the meantime, A-1 Cold Storage can retrieve the “held” shipment and hold it at the appropriate storage temperature until released for distribution. A1 Cold Storage has handled thousands of these types of shipments and has the necessary resources at the ready to deal with these obstacles and ensure that the product is moved in an expeditious manner. In addition they will perform inventory checks, scan-in the shipment for tracking purposes and arrange for temperature controlled delivery of the product. Also A1 often dedicates a truck exclusively for the purpose of delivering the bio-products to the client rather than co-loading for last minute, “Just-in-Time” deliveries.

Exportation of bio-medical products
As with imports, export shipments must also conform to strict temperature control and sensitive handling procedures. To facilitate this A1 has elected to invest in the use of temperature controlled “Envirotainers.” These specially designed containers allow the consistent monitoring of the temperature of the contents. The Envirotainer is packed with dry-ice and uses a battery-powered cooling system to ensure a constant temperature regardless of the outside environmental conditions.

A1 maintains cleanliness and avoids any cross contamination by acquiring the Envirotainer one day prior to the arrival of the biomedical shipment in order to clean the container, check its operation, pre-condition the container and load the biomedical product into the Envirotainer. Then the container is packed with dry ice, the batteries are engaged and temperature monitoring begins for several hours prior to tendering to the airline. This preserves the integrity of the product from the point of departure to arrival.

Please let us know if you have a requirement for handling these specialized commodities. If you are a freight forwarder, customs broker or any type of logistics expeditor, our goal is to MAKE YOU LOOK GOOD!

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.