UPS and other major shipping companies are preparing to store and transport the Covid-19 vaccine
Air travel is critical in the global fight against Covid-19. Medications, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment are an important part of the air cargo business, accounting for 1.9% of total air cargo and generating 2.6% of total air cargo revenue or US$2.5 billion.
The whole world hopes that effective anti-coronavirus vaccines will be developed soon. Today, with some 80 research programs launched around the world to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, the air cargo industry must prepare in advance to fulfill its critical role as a global carrier.
Pharmaceutical and biomedical products require strict storage and transportation conditions, otherwise the drug potentially loses its effectiveness. This creates additional challenges for carriers in the current limited capacity of air cargo operators.
While research into a coronavirus vaccine is underway, United Parcel Service (UPS), an American express delivery and logistics company, is already building two giant freezer farms capable of storing millions of Covid-19 vaccine vials in needed conditions and at the right temperature, in preparation for the day when we need to start delivering medicine around the world.
The facilities being built in Louisville, Kentucky, USA and the Netherlands, next to the UPS air hubs, will house a total of 600 freezers, each of which can hold 48,000 vaccine vials. The vaccine will be stored at temperatures down to -80°C. According to Wes Wheeler, president of UPS Healthcare, UPS freezer farms are designed to meet the most stringent requirements for storing and moving vaccines.
The distribution of an effective Covid-19 vaccine could be the second major logistical challenge posed by the pandemic for companies such as UPS and FedEx, which mobilized all air travel capabilities earlier this year to deliver thousands of tons of protective equipment, workwear and other medical supplies to healthcare systems. all over the world. This time, their job will be to move fragile vaccine vials to help eradicate the coronavirus and restore the global economy.
“This will be a historic moment: a true logistical feat to distribute millions, if not billions, of vials of life-saving Covid-19 vaccine to the world’s population,” said Wes Wheeler. “Lives will depend on how we deliver vaccines, and we must be prepared to accomplish this feat until the pandemic is behind us.”
Researchers are working to develop effective vaccines and treatments, and many projects are in various stages of development. Once they are successful, the next challenge for the global transportation network will be to get medicines into the hands of doctors and patients on a global scale.
FedEx and DHL Global Forwarding are expanding their temperature controlled shipping capabilities. DHL opened a new US$1.6 million office in Indianapolis this month. FedEx purchases and installs freezers, refrigerators and other equipment, Bonnie Harrison, director of media relations, said in a statement.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been working with governments, healthcare providers and our customers to help communities around the world access critical medicines and supplies and maintain supply chains in the face of a massive crisis,” Harrison said.
The Atlanta-based trucker held talks with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the federal team behind Project Warp Speed to discuss what measures and actions would be required to distribute the vaccine. Project Warp Speed is an American national program to accelerate the development, production, and mass distribution of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics against Covid-19 by bringing together the coordinated efforts of pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. The project leader is the mRNA1273 vaccine being developed by the Massachusetts-based startup Moderna Therapeutics Inc. The Warp Speed project management plans to reach industrial volumes of 100 million doses of the vaccine by November, 200 million by December and 300 million by January 2021.Freezer farms are a standard solution in the pharmaceutical world, where storage systems for medicines, immunobiologicals and samples such as blood samples, biological tissues or vaccines for various diseases are always in demand. UPS and FedEx already had a number of freezers, but UPS decided it needed to think big to deal with the huge surge in demand for a COVID-19 vaccine.
UPS freezer equipment will be FDA (Food and Drug Administration) certified. Each farm will require 10 to 15 employees to manage, and the farms can store a total of 14.4 million 2ml glass vials of vaccine. Due to the proximity of these facilities to UPS hubs, Wheeler says the company will be able to provide overnight delivery to almost anywhere in the world.
For transport, all vaccines will be prepared, like many other medicines already shipped by UPS, and shipped packaged in sealed, insulated containers with enough ice to maintain temperature control between trucks and aircraft. UPS declined to say how much it is investing in its new facilities, which could be used for other medical products, as the company continues to expand its healthcare business beyond the Covid-19 crisis.
According to Tim Root, director of marketing at Stirling Ultracold, a refrigeration manufacturer, freezers for ultra-low temperatures can typically cost between $10,000 and $15,000. This means that the minimum cost of new UPS freezer equipment on both farms will be $6 million.
Freezers are now being installed on farms, Wheeler said, and should be ready to go by the time a new vaccine is approved. UPS is also purchasing freezers for installation in South America, Frankfurt and the UK.
“Transportation of insulated containers of dry ice and critical medicines is nothing new for UPS. Trucking is our bread and butter,” Wheeler said. “Storage at -80°C, flash freezing at -80°C, reduction of transport time to a minimum – this is new for us.”
Collaboration and effective communication are key to ensuring the continued supply of vital medical supplies and equipment in the post-pandemic era. Action is needed to transform the freight industry with an integrated, efficient, collaborative supply chain. The use of globally agreed standards, further digitalization, data sharing, cargo tracking, the pursuit of continuous growth and improvement are the path to transformation. The challenge ahead for all participants in the supply chain is to plan and implement a global networked delivery mechanism for a huge number of Covid-19 vaccines. And air travel logistics will play a key role in securing and facilitating access to global immunization programs in the future.
International air cargo transportation in Ukraine is successfully carried out by M&M Ukraine (head office in Kiev, subdivision in Boryspil and Odessa) in all promising and popular global destinations. “M&M Ukraine” provides high-quality and safe cargo transportation from European countries to Ukraine, from Ukraine to Europe, to China and to the USA.
Based on materials from http://www.stattimes.com and data from open sources.