Loggers with alarm outputs under development IF YOU have temperature-sensitive goods in transit, meteorogical equipment specialists CW Price & Company might have the ideal monitoring device in stock. The company imports and sells temperature loggers which can be used in the freight industry for measuring temperatures of goods in transit – and allow you to pinpoint exactly where temperature variation may have damaged your goods. It’s a small instrument, according to MD Kelvin Price, the size of a cigarette lighter. “But it has the big benefit of being able to record temperatures, as often as every 15-minutes, along the entire journey of the container. “That’s monitoring your cargo from the time it is packed, through the harbour or airport of embarkation, all the way to the port or airport of entry.” And it is either disposable or recoverable. Loggers are used extensively for perishables, from blood supplies to cold foods in chain stores and fruit juices in liquid containers. “An example of their function was the logging of a consignment of frozen food from abroad, and that enabled the company to pinpoint responsibility,” he added. They can also serve a vital monitoring function in the animal transport industry – having been used in the transportation of livestock, wild animals and even snakes. Price says loggers are not generally used as an early-warning system, but for auditing purposes. However, loggers with alarm outputs and sirens are being developed and used - especially for the storage of pharmaceuticals where stock or consignments may need to be kept at constant temperatures of 2ºC to 8ºC.