Put the load on hold rather than rejecting it at the gate, take product core temperatures before anything moves, record a reservation on the consignment note at the moment of delivery, and notify the seller and the carrier in writing the same day with the raw recorder file attached. A hold keeps your options open; a refusal at the gate starts an argument you may not need.
The sequence, in order
- Photograph the seal and the seal number before breaking it, and photograph the recorder display.
- Download the full trace as a raw file, not a screenshot of the current reading.
- Take at least three product core temperatures with a calibrated probe, front, middle and rear of the load, pushed between cartons mid-pallet.
- Open one bag from a rear pallet and look for clumping and for ice crystals inside the bag.
- Classify the event: no excursion, surface excursion, or bulk excursion.
- Record a written reservation on the CMR note at delivery. Under the CMR Convention, accepting delivery without reservation creates a presumption that the goods arrived in the described condition, and damage that is not apparent has to be notified in writing within a short period.
- Place the goods on quality hold in a segregated location, still frozen.
- Notify seller and carrier the same day, in writing, with the trace attached.
- Agree the disposition jointly: accept, accept with a concession, downgrade to an industrial specification, or reject.
Reading the trace before you react
A five-minute spike on a multi-drop run is a door opening and affects the surface of the door-end pallets at most. A slow drift upwards from the moment of loading means the trailer was not pre-cooled or the product was loaded warm, and the whole load is suspect. A perfectly flat line with no defrost sawtooth usually means the recorder failed, which is not good news; it means you have no evidence either way.
Do not let the load thaw while the parties argue. Whatever the commercial position, keep the goods at temperature. A thawed load has no disposition options left.
Full procedure and contract wording: temperature logging and cold chain breaks.