Agricultural Cold Chain & Perishables Logistics

Introduction

The cold chain is where agricultural value goes to die. Across Africa, between 30% and 50% of fresh produce, dairy, fish and meat is lost between harvest and consumption — much of it because the cooling, storage and refrigerated transport simply isn't there. Asia faces variants of the same problem at scale: Indonesian fisheries, Vietnamese horticulture, Indian dairy and Thai produce all lose substantial margin to inadequate cold infrastructure. The Middle East has built its food security strategy around cold chain as a strategic asset, with re-export hubs across the Gulf now central to regional flows.

This GLOMACS Agricultural Cold Chain & Perishables Logistics training course covers the technical design, commercial economics and policy integration of cold chains end-to-end: pre-cooling, refrigerated warehousing, reefer transport, processing integration, and last-mile cold distribution. It is built for the operators who run cold chains, the investors who fund them, the policy planners who design national programmes, and the FMCG and retail buyers whose supply chains depend on them. The week balances engineering content with commercial frameworks and policy integration

Objectives

By the end of this Agricultural Cold Chain & Perishables Logistics training course, delegates will be able to:

•     Design a cold chain network covering pre-cooling, storage, transport and last-mile distribution

•     Calculate cold chain economics including capex, opex, energy load and throughput pricing

•     Specify equipment requirements across temperature bands (frozen, chilled, controlled atmosphere)

•     Evaluate energy options including solar PV, ammonia and CO2 refrigerants, and grid-tied versus hybrid systems

•     Apply HACCP, ISO 22000 and Codex Alimentarius standards to cold chain operations

•     Structure cold chain investments as BOT, BOO and PPP transactions

•     Integrate cold chain with port operations, airfreight and inland corridors

•     Use IoT sensors, blockchain and data-traceability tools for cold chain monitoring

Training Methodology

A technical and commercial training course combining engineering content with operations, financial and policy frameworks. The trainer adapts content delivery to delegate experience and to current cold chain investments across the three regions.