FedEx Custom Critical deepens investment in Temp-Assure service

FedEx Custom Critical (Uniontown, OH) is known for its shipping solutions for expedited deliveries with enhanced services, such as temperature-controlled cargo, specialized security or handling. (Business units within the FedEx subsidiary include Surface Expedite, Air Expedite and White Glove Services.) Now, in a bid to provide a flexible range of specified services, the subsidiary is standardizing its temperature monitoring capabilities and requalifying its vehicles. “Our customers have told us they need a service somewhere between a basic temperature-control truck and a fully validated service,” said Virginia Albanese, president and CEO of FedEx Custom Critical. “The upgrades we are making to our Temp-Assure service will provide a cost-effective solution to fill that need.”

Those upgrades consist of installing hardwired temperature probes in four locations within each vehicle’s cargo bay, as well as a datalogger to provide a record of the temperatures maintained during a shipment. The company is also “implementing standard operating procedures to proactively address temperature deviations during transit of all Temp-Assure shipments,” it said in a statment. Until now, customers had the option of using a temperature-controlled vehicle and, if they desired, providing for their own temperature monitoring, or using Custom Critical’s Validated Temp-Assure service, a higher service level. All of Custom Critical’s vehicles are expected to be equipped with the monitors and dataloggers by year-end.