A recent logistics podcast featuring Lori Boyer, head of content marketing at EasyPost, and third-party logistics leader Tevin Taylor explored how businesses prepare for peak shipping periods. Although the discussion centred on general logistics operations, many of the insights are directly relevant to Africa’s temperature-controlled supply chains, where visibility has become just as important as refrigeration itself.
Alexandorlittlewolf | Magnific.com
One of the strongest messages from the discussion was that businesses often worry most about rising costs while having the least visibility into where those costs are actually accumulating.
Boyer illustrated the problem with a memorable analogy. Asking a pilot what concerns her most and hearing “altitude”, only to discover the altimeter isn’t working, is clearly a dangerous situation. Yet many logistics businesses operate in exactly that way.
For Africa’s cold chain, this challenge is especially familiar. Fuel prices fluctuate, border delays extend transit times, generators run during power interruptions and products may require additional cooling or even replacement after temperature excursions. These hidden costs often emerge only after deliveries have been completed.
The quoted transport rate therefore tells only part of the story. Additional expenses frequently include extended cold-room storage, customs delays, after-hours handling, additional refrigeration requirements and emergency replacement shipments. Unless operators understand these costs before peak season begins, profit margins can disappear surprisingly quickly.
The discussion also highlighted how numerous small charges can quietly increase shipping costs by 20% or more.
Within the cold chain, however, these costs often indicate something more significant than financial inefficiency.
Every additional handling event represents another opportunity for temperature abuse. Longer airport dwell times increase thermal exposure, missed transport connections require longer generator operation, while rural storage delays may place products in less-than-ideal conditions.
Instead of simply asking where money was overspent, cold chain operators should ask what those costs reveal about operational risk.
Re-icing charges may indicate inadequate packaging. Extended storage fees may expose recurring congestion at particular border posts or airports. Premium handling costs could point towards poor scheduling or unrealistic delivery windows.
Rather than attempting to monitor everything equally, businesses should focus visibility efforts where risk is greatest. Monitoring dwell times at critical transfer points, analysing temperature performance along individual transport corridors and understanding the true cost of each logistics lane often delivers greater value than broad data collection exercises.
For African cold chains, visibility is no longer simply about tracking shipments. It is about understanding where costs originate, where quality risks emerge and where operational improvements will have the greatest impact.