Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, has increased the range of solutions available to its pharma customers by entering into agreements for global container rental services with SkyCell and va-Q-tec, in addition to its existing cooperation with Envirotainer.

The agreements allow Emirates SkyCargo to offer its customers a variety of specialised temperature controlled containers for the transportation of pharmaceutical or life sciences products, said a statement from the company.

Emirates SkyCargo’s customers can have temperature sensitive pharma and life sciences products shipped using one of SkyCell’s temperature controlled containers. The Swiss made containers are designed to maintain products at  +2-degC to +8-degC and +15-degC to +25-degC safely even under extreme outside temperatures such as –35-degC to +65-degC for several days, it said.

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, it added.

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 -70-degC to +25-degC in extreme ambient conditions.

‘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 which transports cargo from aircraft to storage areas in Dubai maintaining temperatures as low as -20-degC and the ‘White Container’– a special container coated with insulators to counteract high external temperatures, giving customers a wide variety of transportation options for their pharma shipments, said a statement.

PARTNERSHIP DEAL

Emirates SkyCargo and Cargolux Airlines, a top cargo airline, signed an agreement for a strategic operational partnership in air cargo transportation.

This agreement, believed to be the first of its kind in the air cargo industry between a mainline airline and a specialised freighter operator, will allow cooperation between two carriers with complementary strengths and shared values for customer service excellence.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed at the Air Cargo Europe event in Munich, Germany.

Under the terms of the agreement, Emirates SkyCargo and Cargolux will seek to work closely on a number of operational aspects including:

Aircraft capacity: Emirates SkyCargo will utilise Boeing 747F aircraft from Cargolux. It will therefore continue to have access to Boeing 747F aircraft to service customers with heavy/outsized cargo that will require nose loading or adding additional capacity, complementing its own fleet of Boeing 777 freighters.

Block space and interline: Both carriers will further develop block space and interline agreements for use on each others networks permitting access to capacity on routes where they do not currently operate. This offers customers of both carriers an enhanced global reach for transporting cargo from key production markets to consumer markets.

Hub connectivity and cargo handling: Emirates SkyCargo will commence freighter operations to Luxembourg from June 2017. Cargo from both Emirates SkyCargo and Cargolux will be handled at the same facility in Luxembourg. 

Meanwhile, Emirates SkyCargo won the ‘Best Cargo Airline Middle East’ award at the annual Cargo Airline of the Year 2017 awards organised by Air Cargo News in London, UK.

This is the 28th time that Emirates SkyCargo has won this recognition in the 31 year history of the awards.