SkyCell launches ‘ultra-cold smart container’

Rapidly developed solution for sensitive Covid-19 vaccines maintains a steady temperature of -60°C to -80°C for more than 120 hours without recharging, enabling up to 1.75 million doses to be transported in a single aircraft.

SkyCell, a leading manufacturer of data-driven temperature-controlled containers for the pharmaceutical industry, has developed an ultra-cold smart container that it says will ensure the safe transport of COVID-19 vaccines around the world, regardless of outside temperatures.

The rapidly developed solution designed for highly temperature-sensitive Covid-19 vaccines maintains a steady temperature of -60°C to -80°C for more than 120 hours without recharging, enabling up to 1.75 million doses to be transported in a single aircraft – enough to vaccinate between 875,000 and 8.75 million people depending on the vaccine and concentration, and up to 10 times the capacity of common existing solutions, the company said.

To date, dry ice has been central to maintaining the ultra-cold temperatures that certain pharmaceutical products – such as the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine – need to be stored at while they are in transit, the company highlighted. And it said the capacity of ultra-cold shipments has been significantly limited, especially in aircraft, as a result of this dependence, explaining that only a small amount of dry ice can be used per shipment, as it can block respiration in large quantities and therefore presents a risk to individuals involved in handling cargo stored in such containers.

“By combining its existing precision-engineered containers, cooling technology, and proprietary software, SkyCell is able to cool to minus 80 Celsius and utilise full aircraft capacity, mitigating the traditional limitations caused by the use of dry ice by making energy transfer more efficient,” SkyCell said. The containers are also equipped with IoT sensors to measure internal and ambient temperature as well as other environmental factors.

Manufacturing of the reusable, ultra-cold chain containers will begin in early December, with a fleet of at least 100 to be ready in January, SkyCell said. This would deliver capacity to move at least 7 million ultra-cold COVID-19 vaccine doses per month safely around the world from the beginning of 2021 – in the case of concentrated vaccines, this could translate to as many as 35 million patients per month able to receive shots.

SkyCell has set up processes so that containers can be transported door-to-door from factory to hospital, which is vital when transporting ultra-cold cargo as local fixed ultra-cold infrastructure can be limited.

The company said its “highly innovative smart containers allow pharma companies to optimise supply chains using data to predict and control risk. Using over three-quarters of a billion data-points on factors like temperature, location, and time, it enables a market-leading and audited failure rate of less than 0.1 per cent, while reducing CO2 emissions by almost half.”

Richard Ettl, CEO and Co-Founder of SkyCell, commented: “SkyCell has deep experience in creating safe and efficient vaccine container solutions, transporting 90 per cent of product for the world’s largest vaccine supplier by revenue. With the launch of this ultra-cold smart container, we are now able to transport all of the leading vaccine candidates for COVID-19, serving both the mass volume 2 to 8°C market and now the important market segment of -60°C to -80°C.

“We have already seen 60% year-on-year growth in 2020, as pharmaceutical companies and governments around the world recognise the need to ensure their supply chains are robust enough to deliver critical vaccines in viable condition and at sufficient volume.”

As reported earlier this week, Switzerland-headquartered SkyCell is part of an ambitious Abu Dhabi consortium that includes Etihad Cargo and Abu Dhabi Ports Company that has unveiled plans to deliver more than 18 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses around the world by the end of 2021. The aim is to pool the consortium members’ collective expertise to create “a multi-faceted capability” to move and store as many as 6 billion doses – in cold and ultra-cold conditions in early 2021, rising to over 18 billion doses by the end of 2021.

Source: Lloyd´s