Need help on long term storage and transport

[cybersix]

Hi all, today I met my customer, a big company for which I developed customized soy candles.

They ship worldwide but until now they sold paraffin candles, we talked about shipping and transport in hot months, but I'm not sure about what can happen to candles. They ship lots of stuff including fashion clothes, home decor items and such, so they would like to be able to transport everything in one container, including candles. In warehouses and wheel containers temperature can get really high, so what should we expect? I never faced this kind of problem, my shippings last 3 days maximum and I obviously ship a smaller amount of candles, so everything is shorter, shelf life, storage time, and so on.

Does anyone of you have experience on this?

let's say my candles would sit for weeks in a ship or a container going to japan or sit for weeks in a warehouse during summer, with temps going around 140F... Will candles survive and be good once they are back to a normal temperature? We are talking about hundreds of candles at a time.

If there is someone who can help sharing his experience it would be great, also advices are very welcome.

And for the counter part, would cold affect them badly? i think heat is more dangerous, but maybe I'm not seeing some basic point.

TIA

[cybersix]

Really no one can help?

[islandgirl]

Sabrina.. It is very hard with soy and storage.

Once your temperature changes, so can the candle.

Make sure upfront that your customers know how to properly store their soy candles.

I would hate for them to come back to you and want a refund for hundreds of candles because the stored them incorrectly...

Maybe - Draw up a contract regarding this before you sell any...

With Temp change, your candles will change.

With the cold they will frost.

With the hot temps, the will sweat and they may also expand and swallow up your wick like the picture below..

The direct sunlight will discolor your candle or turn them bright yellow.

It can get ugly.

Sorry I can't be of more help...

[cybersix]

Thanks a lot, I was suspecting something tragic LOL

So do you think that big companies when ship their soy candles use a special container? Something insulated, and so are the ware houses?

It would make sense from the point of view of soy candles, but not so much from a market perspective.

It would make cost become higher, and logistically can be tricky.

But thanks a lot for showing me those pics, you know a pic is worth a thousand words!!!

I will keep on gathering informations,

hugs