As sustainability becomes more rampant in Africa, cold chain technology has emerged as one of the logistics solutions promoting the ideology on the continent.
It has especially been of help to the agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors on the continent, helping preserve perishable drugs and foods. It also helps protect the foods from post-harvest losses.
But what is cold chain logistics, why is it important, and how can it be optimized for more efficiency across Africa?
We will be exploring these answers all through this article.
What is Cold Chain Logistics?
Cold chain logistics is a technology that helps manage and transport temperature-sensitive products, such as food, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines, within a temperature-controlled supply chain.
It entails the maintenance of specific temperature conditions throughout storage and distribution to ensure the quality and safety of these products.
Cold chain logistics is critical for preserving the integrity of perishable goods and preventing spoilage or degradation during transit.
Why is Cold Chain Logistics Important in Africa?
For a continent still entrenched in the traditional supply chain and struggling with accepting sustainability measures, the technology holds many benefits for her.
1. Protect Perishable Foods
Agriculture is a big industry in Africa but has shortcomings, especially with its supply chain. One of them is poor preservation of post-harvest losses and perishable foods.
This costs the farmers and the businesses involved much of their investments. With cold chain logistics, these businesses can cut losses by up to 90%.
2. Public Health
Cold chain logistics helps the healthcare industry preserve drugs and vaccines, ensuring patients are treated with the best quality products.
It also helps the industry avoid losses due to damage to these drugs and vaccines while transporting them to rural areas across the continent.
3. Environmental Impact
It is all about the environment at the end of the day. Food and drug waste are potentially dangerous elements to African communities, especially when not disposed of properly.
The energy consumed in transporting more than necessary amounts of the products to make up for potential damages is also detrimental.
However, with these solutions, this waste can be curtailed and the products, including the packaging, utilized.
How to Optimize Cold Chain Logistics in Africa for More Success
Cold chain logistics is still an emerging solution across the continent. But it holds much promise.
The following strategies can help.
1. Financial Investment
The tools, equipment, and operational costs needed to facilitate cold chain logistics on the continent are expensive.
This is because of several reasons, including the scarcity of expertise, the lack of resources to make these tools, and the poor infrastructure that facilitates these tools and equipment.
There has to be a significant amount of investment from relevant stakeholders, including investors and governments, to help make the solution more affordable and available to businesses who want to take advantage of it.
There should also be availability of finances for businesses who wish to invest in these endeavours, but in many cases, that is not the case.
Governments and their central banks can ensure financial facilities such as grants and loans are available to these businesses and farmers.
2. Infrastructural Development
If there would be any decent success from the cold chain technology, there has to be a decent level of investment in these infrastructures by the governments.
For instance, prolonged breakdowns of vehicles used to transport food and drugs potentially put these products at risk of damage. The same thing the vehicles were trying to prevent.
On some level, poor infrastructure could negate investments in cold chain logistics and discourage businesses from taking the solution seriously.
What can be done?
It is still up to the African governments. Many are already moving along in this area, but many more could do much better.
3. Education and Training
The lack of expertise on the continent makes it challenging to utilize this supply chain or logistics solution properly.
To overcome these challenges, businesses can invest in hiring or training the right people to help them facilitate or properly utilize the logistics solution.
Quality education and training allow businesses to do this in-house, thereby cutting down the cost of operation of the business.
4. The Right Collaboration
Collaboration is an effective tool for optimizing cold chain logistics across Africa. Supply chains partnering with the right logistics businesses can leverage their expertise to use this solution effectively.
Collaboration is a popular solution across global supply chains that allows supply chains to achieve full operational productivity.
When done right, very few supply chain strategies can rival it.
Setting up cold logistics in-house can be very expensive if the business or organization does not have the resources or expertise to utilize it properly.
This can end up being very frustrating for these businesses. However, they can reduce costs and enhance productivity with the right collaboration.
Factors that Impact the Successful Optimization of Cold Chain Logistics in Africa
A few factors must be considered to optimize cold chain logistics in Africa successfully.
1. Effective Maintenance
Cold chain logistics is facilitated by vehicles that have to ply the African roads and rails. As mentioned earlier, these infrastructures are lacking.
This calls for a watchful eye on the maintenance of these vehicles, and as much as possible, the businesses involved should practice preventive rather than corrective maintenance.
Proper fleet maintenance, to a large degree, helps prevent breakdowns and supply chain disruptions.
2. Government Support
Adequate government support, such as policies that drive the growth of this industry and investment in infrastructure, can go a long way to help.
With government support, the industry can seamlessly optimize and scale, impacting more businesses and communities across the continent.
3. Packaging
The products used in cold chain logistics have to be properly packaged; otherwise, the products could potentially undergo the same fate that was being prevented.
The cold environment created by these vehicles could sometimes be too extreme. For instance, very low temperatures can damage bottles containing drugs and vaccines.
There has to be good packaging that helps regulate the temperature of each product.
FAQs on Cold Chain Logistics in Africa
These are popular questions concerning cold chain logistics in Africa.
Q1: Does cold chain logistics in Africa vary depending on the region?
There are differences according to the economy, climate, and infrastructure. It’s possible that coastal locations have superior infrastructure than isolated ones.
Q2: How does cold chain logistics look in Africa going forward?
The future will require sustained investments in infrastructure, technology, and training to overcome the present obstacles and guarantee the safe and effective transportation of temperature-sensitive goods.
Q3: How can African nations improve the logistics of the cross-border cold chain?
Cross-border cold chain logistics in Africa can be enhanced by regional cooperation, harmonising standards and laws, and implementing trade facilitation policies.
Conclusion
Cold chain logistics in Africa is still an emerging concept but with a lot of promise. The guide on optimization and factors highlighted in this article can help your business balance its use.
Obinabo Tochukwu Tabansi is a supply chain mastro and writer with a decade of experience working in different facets of the supply chain. Today he is living his passion for writing on all things supply chain. His blog, Supply Chain Nuggets, is Africa’s fastest-rising supply chain blog, helping professionals, business owners, and curious minds navigate the supply chain complexities on the continent.
