Blue Dart ramps up temp-controlled solutions to move Covid-19 vaccine

October 6, 2020: Blue Dart today announced that it is ramping up its existing Temperature Controlled Logistics (TCL) infrastructure and will offer complete supply chain solution for the life sciences and clinical trials sectors and reefer vehicles services to the vaccine sector for the transport of Covid-19 vaccine shipments.

As the development of the Covid-19 vaccine leapfrogs across development phases, stringent temperature requirements (up to - 80°C) will be a critical factor for its transportation and warehousing at every stage. An efficient and specialized logistics network will be a prerequisite, to ensure safe and rapid delivery of billions of Covid-19 vaccine doses for mass immunization, and other temperature-sensitive pharma products on a national & global scale.

Logistics of Covid-19 vaccine
“Blue Dart has the capability to handle various temperature requirements- Frozen: -80◦C to -20◦C | Deep Chilled: 2◦C to 8◦C | Ambient: 15 ◦C to 25 ◦C. Blue Dart has successfully tailored its existing Temperature Controlled Logistics solution to transport critical shipments such as vaccines, medical samples and more. The TCL teams work with three industry-specific segments: Clinical Research Organization (CRO), Vaccine/Testing Kit manufactures and Active Pharma Ingredient for swift and safe delivery of shipments,” said the release.

Partnering with pharma companies conducting trials
Ketan Kulkarni, CMO & head – business development, Blue Dart, said “We are actively working with various pharmaceutical organizations that are conducting clinical trials to produce a Covid-19 vaccine in India in their pre and post-production journey. As a part of the DPDHL Group, Blue Dart has the knowhow of the internal best practices in the life sciences and healthcare logistics business and is a part of a large global logistics network which allows us to use each of our sister Business Unit’s strength in providing the best solution to our customer.”

“A number of factors such as warehousing, packaging and transportation, regional distribution competence, consistent temperature management, the requirement of special equipment and availability of trained personnel to handle the temp-sensitive vaccines will come into play once the vaccine is developed. With an agile response team overseeing the upscaling of our current capabilities, a strong fleet of dedicated Boeing 757 aircraft and robust infrastructure for our temp-controlled logistics solutions, we are capable and prepared to meet any immediate large-scale demand.”