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.