At Able Freight, it’s not exactly a secret that we’re passionate about technology. From robotics to software, technological advances have led to breakthroughs in the quality of the cold chain. Pharmaceuticals and produce can ship further, faster, and with fewer damaged orders.

Of course, we like to be at the cutting edge of these developments. It’s kind of our thing, which is why we created DataHub and A-Works software.

But it isn’t just about apps. In our work, we noticed a problem that hadn’t been widely addressed yet - temperature control on the tarmac. So we decided to plug the gap. And to do that, we needed hardware.

And that’s how KoldKart was born. KoldKart is a temperature-controlled container dolly that keeps cargo under constant refrigeration during transport to or from an airplane. Picture a luggage tractor but carrying temperature-sensitive freight. 

The airport tarmac has historically been a missing link in the cold chain. As you may have guessed, airplanes produce a lot of heat. Fuel burns inside a commercial jet’s engine at 2000 degrees Celsius. It’s enough to melt metal without advanced cooling mechanisms built into the aircraft.

A lot less heat radiates out of the airplane, but it’s still enough to cook your produce or damage a pharmaceutical product. And it flows out to all parts of the plane, by design.

Engines are an airplane’s heat source, but the aircraft is designed to distribute heat over its entire body. Hot air gets piped over a plane’s wings to keep them from icing over. Even the tail produces warmth using an auxiliary power unit. It means that there’s nowhere that freight can sit near a plane while maintaining a cold temperature.

KoldKart technology reduces the risk of overheating before or after a flight, which keeps perishables at a higher quality with a longer shelf life. The technology allows users to monitor and control temperatures remotely. Our air ride suspension system helps to avoid cargo shock damage. We’ve even built KoldKart to be forklift ready to transport freight off the tarmac easily.

Temperature control outside of an airplane is no small feat. At present, 20% of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products are damaged or destroyed during cold-chain transportation. Much of it comes from unexpected delays on the tarmac.

Warehouses, trailers, and containers all have the option to be refrigerated. There are a lot of links in the cold chain. The only one that was missing was the airport tarmac.

We feel that in 2022, it’s well past time to eliminate missing links in the supply chain. So we’ve set out to do just that. If you want to utilize air freight and keep your product temperature-controlled the whole time, then reach out to us today.