Emirates SkyCargo offers some cool new options

The air freight arm of the Dubai airline, the world's biggest, has signed agreements that will enhance the safe transport of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals.

A model of an Emirates SkyCargo aircraft at the carrier's cargo terminal at the Logistics District in Dubai South. Reem Mohammed/ The National

Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, has entered into agreements to offer its customers a variety of specialised temperature-controlled containers for the transport of pharmaceutical or life-sciences products.

Emirates SkyCargo’ will now be using the Swiss-made SkyCell’s temperature controlled containersdesigned to maintain products at 2°C to 8°C and 15°C to 25°C safely even under extreme outside temperatures such as minus 35°C to 65°C for several days. The patented containers use innovative material technology to recharge in Emirates SkyCargo’s cool chain network thus enabling “door to door” for a closed supply chain and have close to real time temperature monitoring capability.

Pharma customers across Emirates SkyCargo’s global network of 155 destinations can now also choose to have their temperature sensitive shipments transported in “va-Q-tainer” containers – advanced passive containers providing temperature controlled solutions for six temperature ranges from minus 70°C to 25°C in extreme ambient conditions. The va-Q-tainer rental containers are available in five different sizes taking up to two US pallets inside and offer constant and deviation-free temperature control for several days without using external energy sources.

Emirates SkyCargo’s agreements with SkyCell and va-Q-tec supplement its existing in-house pharma offerings which include the Emirates SkyPharma Cool Dolly that transports temperature-sensitive cargo from aircraft to storage areas in Dubai maintaining temperatures as low as minus 20°C, and the “White Container”– a special container coated with insulators to counteract high external temperatures.

In 2016, Emirates SkyCargo launched Emirates SkyPharma and inaugurated a state-of-the-art facility at Dubai International Airport dedicated to the transport of pharmaceuticals. Emirates SkyCargo is the largest international cargo airline in the world operating a modern fleet of 259 aircraft including 15 freighters – 13 Boeing 777-Fs and two B747-400ERFs.

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