Temperature Tracking in the Palm of Your Hand

Feb. 12, 2021
The Cargo Service Center Group has released an industry first temperature monitoring and cargo tracking app for their Pharma Excellence Center at the Mumbai airport.

During a web conference on Feb. 11, the Cargo Service Center (CSC) Group detailed the release of their industry first app – Turant – a real-time temperature monitoring and cargo tracking app.

The app tracks shipments through CSC’s Pharma Excellence Center at Mumbai airport. The Pharma Excellence Center has been temperature mapped and is electronically monitored. A user needs only their shipment’s air waybill (AWB) number and the mobile app will alert them to temperature and shipment status every five to 10 minutes, explained Pramod Pereira business unit head, MCSC Cold Chain Solutions.

“This is the first time in air cargo history that a terminal is providing its customers with real-time temperature and the status of shipment within the terminal,” Pereira said.

“We’ve given you all this information right into the palm of your hand. All you need to do is download the Turnat app and install it into your mobile phone. Once you install the app into your phone, all you need to do is select the airport and enter your AWB and the shipment becomes visible through the app,” he added.

The app comes as India’s pharmaceutical market is expected to grow to $100 billion (USD) and the medical device market to $25 billion (USD) by 2025. India’s Pharma exports today stand at $16.3 billion (USD) for financial year 2020.

Pereira said that they frequently receive calls regarding cargo’s temperature status and other information that the Turant app will now provide.

“This app is going to be a blessing to all in the pharma industry,” he said.

The Pharma Excellence Center at Mumbai is an end-to-end temperature-controlled environment for air cargo exports, spread over 19,685 square feet of temperature-controlled space, with 13,123 square feet dedicated to pharma shipments. The terminal has the pharma storage capacity of three Boeing 747 cargo freighter unit load devices (ULDs), equal to 300 tons. At full capacity, the terminal can process up to 25,000 tons of pharma and 14,000 tons of perishable cargo per month. The Pharma Excellence Center recently became IATA CEIV and GDP certification certified.

The temperature of the terminal is electronically monitored 24/7, with teams on site ready to respond in the event of faulty temperature increases. In the future, Pereira said that the app will allow for those who notice temperature increases through the app to alert teams on site to the danger.

Tushar Jani, chairman of CSC Group, said that the app is just one part of the company’s efforts to increase their digitalization efforts. Digitalization, he said, has become a necessity in the pandemic era.

“Digitalization has become the way of life. It has become like oxygen. If you’re not part of the digital world, you can’t breathe,” Jani said. “Digitalization is going to be part of the forefront as far as CSC Group is concerned. We have earmarked a huge number of substantial finances for our digitalization program – artificial intelligence, machine learning – those are going to be the words that we use more frequently in our company. Machine learning is going to be the way of life for us.”

The Turant app is available for download through the Google Play and Apple app stores.