What is a cold-chain claim?
Quick answer
The event behind it is called an excursion: a period when the load sat outside the range it was meant to stay in. A reefer unit that failed overnight. A door left open at a cross-dock. A pallet that waited on a warm dock before loading.
An excursion is not always a loss. Some goods tolerate a short one. That is exactly why the claim has to show what happened, for how long, and against which limit.
What evidence does a cold-chain claim need?
Quick answer
- The required range, from the order, the bill of lading or the carrier instructions. If the range was never written down, the claim starts weak.
- The temperature log, from the reefer unit or a logger in the load, covering pickup to delivery without gaps.
- The condition at delivery: photos at the door, the receiving notes, and any exceptions written on the proof of delivery.
- The chain of custody: the bill of lading and handover records that show who held the load during the excursion.
Each of these usually lives in a different system. The log is in a telematics portal, the photo is on a handheld, the range is in the order, and the handover is on paper.
Why do most temperature excursions end as write-offs?
Quick answer
There is also a quieter reason. Many teams treat an alarm as the end of the job. The monitoring system flags the excursion, someone takes the load off the line, and the record stops there. Nobody turns the alarm into a claim.
To see this in your own operation, take one month of temperature-controlled deliveries. Count the excursions your monitoring flagged. Count how many led to a claim. The gap is your own figure.
How can a team file more cold-chain claims, faster?
Quick answer
Runink FACE: Fulfilment Autonomous Claims Engine reads the photo from the door beside the consignment papers. It checks the image first, reads it on machines your plan names rather than at an outside AI service, and ties what it saw to the exact frame. It compares the observation with what the documents say the load should be, names the pallet that differs, and drafts the claim with the evidence attached.
Where a record says nothing about a condition, FACE reports it as not evidenced, never as kept. A named person approves the claim before it is filed.
See the cold-chain case worked through on the logistics page, or send one month of deliveries and we will walk it with you.