Cold Chain Under Fire: Warzones and Temperature-Sensitive Shipments

The escalating challenges warzones and geopolitical crises pose to cold chain pharma logistics, and what must urgently be done to address them.
Among the most vulnerable links in pharma logistics is the cold chain. Biologics, vaccines, and cell therapies depend on strict environmental conditions—yet conflict zones decimate this infrastructure. In Ukraine, rolling blackouts and blocked roads have resulted in severe lapses in temperature compliance. Similar conditions prevail in Gaza, where energy outages and destroyed roads hinder all forms of remote tracking and cooling.
But these aren’t isolated incidents. In 2025 alone, border disruptions in the Sahel region, escalations in the Red Sea, and cyberattacks targeting logistics systems in Eastern Europe have delayed or compromised thousands of cold chain shipments. The disruption of Yemen’s port infrastructure and the near collapse of Sudan’s transportation network further strain the Middle East-to-Africa pharma corridors.
This raises urgent questions: Are our container solutions robust and autonomous enough to sustain longer, unplanned transits? Are regional partners adequately trained and resourced for contingency management? Are we investing enough in passive cooling and AI-enabled predictive rerouting? And what about climate impact? With rising temperatures globally, even non-conflict zones now struggle to meet cold chain standards. Heatwaves across Southern Europe and Asia have added another stressor to pharmaceutical logistics that is still too often underestimated.
Cold chain logistics in crisis regions is no longer an exception—it’s the baseline reality. Forward-thinking logistics leaders must pivot from redundancy planning to proactive infrastructure innovation. Let’s shape the future of pharma logistics together. Post your thoughts on our LinkedIn page and contact us via our website.