inbound
cool shipping container is hot stuff
The company name on the press release—Entropy
Thermal Management Technologies—caught our eye
(and, we must admit, sent us running to the dictionary). Entropy, according to The American Heritage
Dictionary, is “a quantitative measure of the amount
of thermal energy not available to do work in a closed
thermodynamic system.”
What does thermal energy have to do with ship-
ping? For one thing, thermal energy—think heat—can
create all sorts of headaches for cold-chain shippers. To address that
problem, Entropy has developed Greenbox, a temperature-controlled shipping
container for industries like pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
What’s unusual about Greenbox is the patented “phase-change material” (PCM)
that controls the temperature inside the container. The PCM inside the unit’s walls
absorbs large amounts of heat. When the PCM’s temperature reaches the point at
which it changes phase—that is, it begins to change from solid to liquid—it continues to absorb heat but with no appreciable rise in temperature. When the ambient temperature around the liquid falls—when the box is loaded onto an unheated truck in winter, for instance—the PCM solidifies, releasing the stored heat.
That’s highly simplified, but the upshot is that the technology allows Greenbox
to maintain a narrow range of temperatures for a remarkable 120 hours, or five
days. That means users can ship chilled, room-temperature, and frozen products
any day of the week, by any transport mode, without worrying about weekend
holdups.
The reusable, fully recyclable plastic cartons are available in several sizes,
including the new 16-cubic-foot Pallet Shipper Greenbox. Entropy says the pal-let-mounted box can be reused up to 250 times, can be assembled by one person
in minutes, is stackable two-high, and is collapsible for storage. What’s more,
Entropy uses a unique biodegradable vegetable-based PCM instead of the usual
petroleum-based materials.
More information, including an explanation of the science behind the temp
control system, can be found at www.greenboxsystems.com and www.entropy-solutionsinc.com.
live from New York, it’s …
… shipping errors and cargo security! NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” last month
poked fun at express shipping and cargo security in one of its sketches. Thanks
to a mix-up by a courier company with a FedEx-like name and logo, Somali
pirates received an express delivery of plastic swords, guns, and a stuffed parrot.
When the pirate leader called the toll-free customer service number to complain,
the agent insisted that the courier had shipped the correct package of weapons.
She eventually offers a shipment credit, which the pirates reject. Meanwhile, the
real weapons were delivered to Disney World for the “Pirates of the Caribbean”
performance, with predictably disastrous results for tourists and employees alike.
Back at sea, the frustrated pirates make do with the toys, only to have the captain
of a container ship laugh at them and steam off into the sunset.
security takes
center stage
Piracy was an unexpected addition to the program at the
National Defense Industrial
Association’s 25th annual conference, “21st Century Logistics:
Vision and Strategies for the 2nd
Decade.” And we’re not talking
about the Jack Sparrow type that
conjures up images of a sunny
clime, swaying palm trees, and
Caribbean breezes. We’re talking
about the Somali pirates that
hijacked the U.S.-flagged vessel
MV Maersk Alabama, capturing
the headlines on the second day
of the conference.
Although piracy was new to
the agenda, security issues were
already top of mind for attendees. Vulnerability in the supply
chain, transnational and adaptive threats, and stateless enemies were all themes that came
up time and time again during
the first day of the conference.
For example, in his keynote
session, Gen. James Cartwright,
USMC, vice chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged the
audience of defense logisticians
to confront the realities of the
present day. Citing “persistent
conflict” and the need for deep
capabilities to protect the interests of the United States around
the globe, Gen. Cartwright spoke
out in support of the sweeping
cuts announced by Defense
Secretary William Gates that
week. The cuts, as Secretary Gates
had said previously, are aimed at
ensuring that the U.S. military
aligns its capabilities with “the
wars we are in today and the scenarios we are most likely to face
in the years to come.”
