Demand surges, stock availability, pre-conditioning expertise and capabilities, and environmental considerations all need to be taken into account when shipping temperature-sensitive materials through local, national, or international cold chain shipping lanes.

That’s why we’ve created ORCA Rental, the rental temperature-controlled packaging service giving you access to the very best in ORCA temperature-controlled packaging in a way that’s suited to your cold chain.

This article will look at the benefits of rental packaging solutions versus traditional purchasing options in cold chain logistics and beyond.

Renting Versus Purchasing

The economics of renting versus purchasing are simple in almost all sectors; whether it’s cars, suits, power tools or books, renting allows you to access what you need when you need it, freeing up space and reducing costs and waste.

A trend towards renting has been seen across many sectors, but what’s driving this move? Described as ‘Rentership society’ by Forbes Magazine, this trend towards renting rather than owning is being adopted by companies worldwide as they look to meet the ever-changing needs of their customers.1

‘Purchasing equipment as a company often involves large down payments. On top of that, every purchase comes with extra costs, such as insurances, taxes, licenses, maintenance etc. This means that you need some solid capital.’ 2 In short, ownership involves risk.

No matter the sector, the benefits of renting are clear:

  • Reduced costs
  • Ability to meet fluctuations in demand
  • Reduced stockholding and waste
  • Reduced impact on the environment
  • Tapping into sector expertise (in the case of ORCA Rental, our pre-conditioning capabilities and expertise)
  • Flexibility – get exactly what you need rather than fitting what you own to the job.

Cold Chain Logistics: The Case for Rental Packaging Solutions

orca fulfilment

Market analysis predicts the global cold-chain industry will grow 17.9% a year by 2026, reaching more than $585 billion, with Asia-Pacific accounting for the bulk of this growth.3 As with any sector, growth comes with an increase in demand.

In addition to this existing growth trend, the coronavirus pandemic is increasing the demand for refrigerated trucks to transport perishable goods. At the same time, it is also likely to create an urgent future need to move vaccines around the world at controlled temperatures. This presents a challenge for cold-chain suppliers and operators aiming to make the sector as energy-efficient and environmentally friendly as possible.4

Meeting Demand

With rapid growth, and future fluctuations in demand inevitable, it will become increasingly important for pharmaceutical, human and animal sample, and food industries to have high-quality temperature-controlled packaging available on-demand and flexible to meet specific cold chain requirements.

Stock Holding

As well as meeting demand as and when it happens, rental services in cold chain logistics will reduce the inevitable increase in stock holding requirements, with many companies needing to look at increased warehouse space to cope with this upturn. This, in turn, would increase costs.

Cost

Holding large amounts of stock that is either left unused in a warehouse for long periods, becomes damaged due to multiple use or mishandling, and staying up-to-date with the latest innovations can get expensive. Rental solutions remove those risks, as you’ll only need to rent what you need when you need it.

Environmental Impact

Lastly, this steep increase in demand for temperature-controlled packaging solutions will have a negative impact on our environment, with more and more packaging being manufactured to meet demand.

Rental temperature-controlled packaging is a real solution to all of these challenges, allowing you to reduce stock holding, meet fluctuations in demand, and ultimately reduce waste and your carbon footprint.

The Flexibility of ORCA Rental

ORCA Rental flexes to your specific needs. For example, rather than purchasing an off-the-shelf packaging solution that will spend large parts of the year sitting on a shelf, increasing costs, and reducing space, and in many cases leading to solutions being discarded with a knock-on impact on the environment, ORCA Rental allows you to access temperature-controlled packaging when you need, and how you need it.

You can choose variables including:

  • Temperature
  • Size
  • Pre-conditioning
  • Connectivity
  • Delivery legs

And, when you’ve completed your delivery, return the solution to Intelsius for cleaning and refurbishment.

ORCA Rental Packaging Solutions

Currently, only ORCA Multi-Use solutions can be fulfilled and rented as part of the service with new solutions such as the ORCA Connect available early in the new year.

ORCA Multi-Use gives users a durable, high-performing system that provides a minimum of 96 hours of temperature protection across various temperature ranges. Utilising vacuum insulation panels and phase change materials, performance can be maintained in the most extreme of shipping lanes.

ORCA Multi-Use Box

Find out More About ORCA Rental

If you’re looking for a temperature-controlled packaging solution that can flex to meet your specific cold chain needs and fluctuations in demand, visit our dedicated ORCA Rental page here, or get in touch with a member of our dedicated Customer Service team.

Get in Touch

External Resources

  1. Forbes (2018) – Having It All, But Owning None Of It: Welcome To The Rentership Society
  2. To Increase (2017) – Fast-growing trend: renting vs buying equipment
  3. Forbes (2020) – The World Needs A Reliable And Efficient Cold Chain Now More Than Ever
  4. Forbes (2020) – The World Needs A Reliable And Efficient Cold Chain Now More Than Ever
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