Cold chain maintenance for vaccine transportation is a significant challenge for the global logistics industry, and SkyCell and Korean Air has partnered to ensure the lifesaving medicines reach patients timely and in pristine condition.
The partnership comes at a crucial point with the increase in demand for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments this year. It also focuses on expansion and further development of its business in Korea. The partnership follows SkyCell’s recent launch of a service centre in Seoul and the appointment of Charlie Cho as Business Development Director for Korea as of January this year.
The Korean pharmaceutical industry has seen rapid growth over the last five years, growing at an annual rate of around 7 per cent, led by locally developed novel therapies and biosimilars – almost three times faster than the manufacturing sector. Exports of Korean pharmaceuticals grew by 11.2 per cent last year to over $5.19 billion. The partnership will meet the growing demand for hybrid containers as safe and sustainable pharma solutions for sensitive and critical drugs such as oncology drugs.
SkyCell’s highly-innovative hybrid 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.
EUM Jae Dong, Senior Vice President and Head of Cargo Business Division at Korean Air commented, “We were attracted to the fact that Skycell has recently opened a new station in Seoul, and that its sustainable and self-recharging hybrid containers are in line with our green management policy. Through this agreement, we are pleased to expand our service offering to the pharma industry with SkyCell’s hybrid containers and provide our clients with a safe and sustainable solution to protect sensitive products.
Chiara Venuti, Director of Business Development and Head of Airline Partnerships at SkyCell said, “We at SkyCell are proud to partner with Korea Air and ensure vital medicine reach their destinations fast and without spoilage. As we navigate this difficult time, we are committed to helping our partners achieve their goals, and ensure these vital medicines are transported in a safe and timely manner. When shipping vital pharmaceutical products, there is no room for error, and we are happy to support Korean Air to ship pharmaceuticals in a sustainable way.”
