Running on Ice: Dry ice replacement and the future of cold chain
In this edition: Artyc PBC announces a dry ice-less device, Surfact gets a new partnership and DiGiorno brings a new crust to the pizza aisle. The post Running on Ice: Dry ice replacement and the future of cold chain appeared first on FreightWaves.
All thawed out
Artyc PBC, a leader in cold chain solutions for the health care industry, recently announced the launch of the Medstow 5L Intercampus, a battery-powered, customizable cooler designed to modernize how temperature-sensitive health care products are transported between hospitals, clinical sites and patient homes.
The Medstow 5L Intercampus replaces dry ice and disposable packaging with a reusable solution that delivers precise cooling, live tracking and a full chain-of-custody audit trail in a compact, mobile unit built for everyday clinical use.
The device’s features include:
- Programmable temperature settings, with stabilization to plus or minus 3 C.
- Onboard sensors that track GPS, ambient temperature, lid openings and shock events.
- Live monitoring through Artyc’s portal, showing temperature history, location, battery usage and chain-of-custody logs.
- Battery-powered compressor cooling that dynamically adjusts to ambient conditions, ensuring thermal integrity even in variable environments.
“Dry ice is a relic,” said Hannah Sieber, co-founder and CEO of Artyc, in a news release. “It’s difficult to handle, guesswork to monitor, and a chain of custody nightmare. Hospitals, clinical teams, and patients deserve better. With Medstow, we’ve built a smarter, safer platform that eliminates the hassles of dry ice and gives care teams real-time visibility into where their samples are, how cold they are, and who accessed them, without ever cracking the lid.”
Temperature checks
The Norway-based creator of the hockey puck-shaped Internet of Things device, Surfact, has partnered with New York-based Catena Clearing, a telematics platform, to bring full-spectrum visibility to the cold chain. Sufact’s “Emma” smart tracker is an IoT device that gives real-time insights on temperature, shock and location, which can be another line of defense in the fight against cargo theft. By combining Catena’s real-time telematics stream with Surfact’s versatile tracking technology, the partnership delivers a unified layer of freight intelligence that creates a seamless, API-driven platform with visibility from dispatch to doorstep.
“At Surfact, we make cargo talk so systems can truly listen, act, and deliver impact. Together with Catena, we’re closing the data gap between dispatch and delivery,” said Per Magne Helseth, founder and CEO of Surfact in a news release.
“Our mission is to unlock your data, and we’re excited to partner with Surfact to build the future of supply chain visibility. Our real-time telematics data layer is the perfect foundation for Surfact’s sensor-driven intelligence, and together we can deliver end-to-end transparency from the truck down to the pallet,” said Jeremy Baksht, co-founder and CEO of Catena.
Food and drug
DiGiorno is turning up the heat in the frozen aisle with its latest innovation, Wood Fired Style Crust Pizza. As more consumers opt to dine at home, DiGiorno is meeting the moment with an offering that aims to bring the pizzeria experience to your freezer.
It’s available in four varieties: Four Cheese, Italian Meat Trio, Supreme and classic Pepperoni. This new line promises the crispy, chewy crust associated with traditional wood-fired ovens. As someone who is chasing the perfect crispy crust, my expectations are high for a wood-fired pizza that I can cook in my oven.
“This new crust offers everything people love about wood-fired pizza all without ever leaving the house or using a pizza oven,” said Kimberly Holowiak, senior brand manager for DiGiorno. “This new pizza is yet another example of how we’re pushing the frozen category and meeting people’s dynamic tastes.”
The suggested retail price is $6.49, in a market where many premium frozen pizzas are creeping toward the $10 mark.
Cold chain lanes
This week’s market heads to the home of the Space Needle, Seattle. Capacity is tightening in Seattle as reefer outbound tender rejections rise faster than reefer outbound tender volumes. Reefer outbound tender volumes have started to rise but are still down 10.72% week over week. On the other hand, reefer outbound tender rejections have risen 4.39% w/w, creating a capacity crunch.
Reefer outbound tender rejections in Seattle have consistently been at or above 10%, but with the sharp uptick there will be inflationary pressures on spot rates. Shippers and brokers can expect low contract carrier compliance and secondary, and tertiary carriers can expect to see increased routing guide volumes. With a top 10 freight market for rejections, carriers can expect to see some loads with significant margin.
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Shelf life
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Wanna chat in the cooler? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at moconnell@freightwaves.com.
See you on the internet.
Mary
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The post Running on Ice: Dry ice replacement and the future of cold chain appeared first on FreightWaves.
