UAE — Abu Dhabi Airports has joined Pharma.Aero, the global network for life science and medtech manufacturers, cargo communities and airport operators, as a strategic member representing the Middle East.

The collaboration with Pharma.Aero builds on Abu Dhabi’s growth as a global healthcare and life sciences hub, and the success of the HOPE Consortium, an Abu Dhabi-led public-private partnership that is committed to working together to overcome the challenges of vaccine distribution and logistics.

Jamal Salem Al Dhaheri, managing director and chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, said the airport operator was happy to join the global cross-industry network as a strategic partner for the Middle East.

“Along with Etihad Cargo, we look forward to collaborating with industry leaders to contribute to the overall development of the pharmaceutical supply chain,” he said.

The move follows Abu Dhabi Airports’ plans to pursue major air cargo infrastructure expansion projects with a strong focus on products capable of efficiently handling time and temperature-sensitive cargo, including those from within pharmaceuticals and life science.

Trevor Caswell, chairman of Pharma.Aero, said the network looked forward to a strong, active, and collaborative partnership with Abu Dhabi Airports.

In a similar development, Siemens Logistics, Qatar Airways Cargo, and Qatar Aviation Services (QAS) Cargo have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote close cooperation in digitalizing cargo handling processes.

The collaborative project will, among others, deploy the latest in data analytics applications and predictive maintenance. It is also set to positively impact sustainability as well as health and safety.

With this MoU, three major players come together: Siemens for airport digitalization and automation, QAS Cargo for world-class cargo handling at the Doha hub, and Qatar Airways Cargo as the leading air cargo carrier in the world.

Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Aviation Group, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Luxembourg-based B Medical Systems.

The MoU was announced during the BIO International Convention being held in San Diego, USA in June and it aims to develop and launch an airline-specific passive temperature-controlled solution for the transportation of life-saving drugs, vaccines, and high-value pharmaceuticals.

As per the statement at the time, Etihad Cargo became the first airline globally to develop and launch sustainable, temperature-controlled containers for the transportation of pharmaceuticals and life sciences.

The Containers are designed in such a way as to retain temperatures from -80 to 25 degrees Celsius for up to 5 days without an external power source.

More recently, Abu Dhabi strengthened its capabilities as a life sciences hub through a pharma collaboration with Belgium, a leading global pharmaceutical hub.

It established a global distribution corridor between Abu Dhabi and Brussels to serve the world in vaccine delivery and future life science needs.

Envirotainer invests and expands capacity

In separate news development, Envirotainer, the cold chain solutions specialist for pharmaceutical airfreight shipments, has expanded its Rosersberg production site in response to increased demand for temperature-controlled units.

This year alone, the company will increase its annual shipping capacity by around 200 million doses. Envirotainer will be able to ship over one billion vials per year by the end of 2022.

The Rosersberg site, located just north of Stockholm, is the world’s largest in terms of output, capable of producing more units per year than any other. It has also been designed to allow for future expansion.

The fleet of Envirotainer covers over 2,000 pharmaceutical trade lanes in over 100 countries and 300 airports.

Its services assist pharma companies in meeting the most stringent pharmaceutical airfreight requirements and include the new high-capacity Releye RAP and RLP models, which are the largest and most advanced of their type on the market.

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