b'18American Journal of Transportation ajot.comAir C ArgoAir CArgoNEWSNEWSAirlines face mission of the century for vaccinesIn cooled warehouses on the fringes of Frank- usual destinations.furt airport, Deutsche Lufthansa AG is preparing itsAt the start at least, space will be limited. The depleted fleet for the gargantuan task of airliftingmassive undertaking is expected to begin at a peak millions of doses of the vaccines meant to end thetime for cargo carriers, right as the online Christ-global pandemic. mas shopping frenzy, boosted this year by Covid-Lufthansa,oneoftheworldsbiggestcargo19, reaches its zenith.carriers,beganplanningin AprilinanticipationPfizerplanstoship1.3billiondosesofits of the shots that Pfizer Inc. to Moderna Inc. andvaccine by the end of next year. Moderna, which AstraZeneca Plc are developing in record time. Aplans to request U.S. and European approval, will 20-member task force is at work devising how toproduce about 500 million. AstraZeneca has manu-fit more of the crucial payload onto the airlines 15facturing capacity for 2 billion doses, half of those Boeing Co. 777 and MD-11 freighters, along withtargeted to low- and middle-income nations.hold space in a vast passenger fleet now flying atWhat we have to do is very quickly help the just 25% of capacity. world get up on its feet, said Dennis Lister, viceuLds are expected to become a limited resource within air transportation.Thequestionishowwescaleitup,saidpresident for cargo at Emirates, the worlds largest Thorsten Braun, who leads Lufthansas part in thelong-distance airline. Part of that is making sureJettainer makes vaccine global effort. we get vaccines on planes to people that need it, so Laid low by a Covid-19 outbreak thats deci- we get people flying again.matedpassengerdemand,airlineswillbetheTo allow more passenger jets to be broughttransportation in cool ULDs workhorses of the attempt to eradicate it, haulingbackintoservice,governmentsshouldopenup billions of vials to every corner of the globe. Its antravel, says Glyn Hughes, IATAs global head ofplain sailing with cool&flyunprecedented task, made more difficult by the car- cargo, striking a familiar industry refrain.riers diminished state after culling jobs, routes andOne of the largest and mostSecuring supply and manag-aircraft to survive a crisis thats reduced air trafficD eepF reeze complexlogisticaloperationsing containers for temperature-globally by an estimated 61% this year. The Pfizer-BioNTech SE vaccine adds an extraeverundertakenwilllaunchassensitive goods is an extremely soon as a Covid-19 vaccine hascomplexmissionthatrequires receivedapproval.Temperature- absolutely accurate and attentive controlledUnitLoadDevicesmanagement. This includes on-(ULD) are expected to become atimeorderingandpositioning, limited resource within air trans- as well as constant traceability portation. The increasing demandandmonitoringthroughoutthe forcooltransportsolutionsandentireprocesschaininorder interactionbetweenthegrowingtobereadyforanimmediate number of stakeholders will proveresponse to all eventualities as complexandtime-consuming.there is no margin for error due cool&fly,auniquemanagementto the highly valuable and sensi-serviceofferedbyJettainerfortive goods involved.temperature-controlledULDs,isBasedonJettainerslong-the perfect solution to maximizestanding expertise in temperature-the efficient use of cool contain- controlled ULD management and ers. Jettainers dedicated tempera- in response to market needs, it has turecontrolcompetencecenternow launched a unique manage-in the Middle East will offer cus- ment service: cool&fly. The prod-tomers a single point of contact touct is one of a kind, comprising ensure the smooth operation of thefull cool ULD order management, entire cool ULD journey and hassteeringandpositioningalong been further resourced to meet thewith monitoring as well as after-A Lufthansa task force is at work devising how to fit more of the crucial payload onto the airlines freighters. expected demand. service management. This will be the largest and most complexlayer of difficulty. It must be transported at minus logistical exercise ever, said Alexandre de Juniac,70 degrees Celsius, colder than winter in Antarc- (DRIVEcontinued fromend-to-endtracking,monitoring, chiefexecutiveofficeroftheInternationalAirtica, and the companies plan to use GPS-enabledpage 12) and control of refrigerated cargoes Transport Association, the industrys chief lobby.thermal sensors to track the location and tempera- chain technologies and the inter- acrossmultipletransportation The world is counting on us. ture of each vaccine shipment. net of things will be two of themodes. Out-of-range conditions IATAestimatesthattheequivalentof8,000Uponarrival,thevaccinecanbestoredinelementsofsystemsthatwilltriggeralarmsthatenablecar-loadsina110-toncapacityBoeing747freighterultra-low temperature freezers (which are commer- providegreatervisibilityandrierstotakecorrectiveaction. will be needed for the airlift, which will take twocially available and can extend the vaccines shelfmonitoring of supply chains,Theredundantconnectivity, years to supply some 14 billion doses, or almost twolife for up to six months), or in a fridge in a hospitalBlockchain, a distributed ledgersaidChrisMacDonald,ORB-for every man, woman and child on Earth. Its a tallfor five days at 2-to-8 degrees Celsius, or in a spe- technologywhichestablishesCOMMs Senior Vice President order, given about one-third of the global passengercial Pfizer thermal shipper, in which the doses willan immutable record of transac- and General Manager, Americas, fleet is still in storage, based on data from Cirium. arrive. That can be used as a temporary storage unittions on a network, is importantallows the system to track and KatherineOBrien,theWorldHealthOrga- by refilling with dry ice for up to 15 days. Oncetobuildingtrustedinformation.monitortemperature-sensitive nizationshead ofimmunization, likens the taskthawed, the vials cannot be re-frozen. IBM recently worked on a pilotfreight from the time its loaded of distributing the vaccines after the months-longThe choreography will be delicate, with con- with pharmaceutical supply chainto the time its delivered.development sprint to summiting Mount Everesttrols in place from factory to clinic and all pointsorganizations to demonstrate howThelatestIoTtechnolo-having reached base camp. between. Virtually no aircraft are capable of keep- data in a blockchain network cangies can provide complementary The climb to the peak is really about deliver- ing items so cold. Airlines will instead rely on Pfiz- be used to verify the quality andinsights to the whereabouts and ing the vaccines, she said on Nov. 16. ers specialized containers to cool the medicine. origins of products. The projectstatus of goods and assets, said Here are some of the biggest challenges alongUnited Airlines Holdings Inc. has begun flightsalsodemonstratedthatproductLind. Combining all available the way: to ready Pfizers vaccine for distribution if it receivesrecall notifications for a vaccinedata improves situational aware-regulatory approval, said a person familiar with thecould be accelerated from days toness. When parties decide to col-C argoC apaCity matter. The pharmaceutical company and the air- seconds. With Sonoco, a providerlaborateandagreetomutually There are around 2,000 dedicated freighters inline declined to comment on the flights, which wereofpharmaceuticalspackaging,share data about a shipment, the use, carrying about half of all goods moved by air.reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal. IBM is setting up a vendor-neu- benefits are huge. The remainder typically goes in the bellies of theAmerican Airlines Group Inc. and Delta Airtral blockchain platform for useThese benefits include reduced worlds 22,000 regular jetliners. Lines Inc. are among other carriers that have saidby pharmaceuticals manufactur- waiting time, secured fulfillment While the freighters are full, air-cargo volumetheyre prepared to handle shipments of the Pfizerers and carriers. levels,minimizedadministrative hastumbledthisyearbecausesomuchbellydrug.Americanhasbothtemperature-controlledORBCOMM Inc., a providerburden, data accuracy, cost effec-capacity is sitting idle. Airlines have drafted aboutcontainers and pre-packaged shipments with coldofIoTsolutions,hasinnovatedtiveness, and capabilities for pre-2,500 passenger planes into cargo-only roles, butpacks or dry ice. dual-modesatelliteandcellulardictiveactions.Allthese,said the job of distributing the vaccine would be easierDeltarecentlyapproveduseofDoKaSchconnectivity as part of a cold-chainLind, contribute to cost effective, if fleets were flying with usual frequencies to their(MISSIONcontinued on page 19) telematicsproductthatprovidesintegrated fluid supply chains.'