Thermo King and Envirotainer say they have designed active containers for the exacting requirements of the pharmaceutical industry.

“When a vaccine is ready, the challenge for the pharmaceutical market will be getting it to the patient as fast as possible by maintaining the integrity of the cold chain,” said Francesco Incalza, president of Thermo King EMEA. “Our intelligent solutions can help address logistics complexities by maintaining temperature control and tracking the integrity of vaccine shipments at all points along the journey, including during air transport. We are ready to meet the needs for the mass global distribution of the expected temperature-sensitive vaccine.”

Active solutions such as this operate on batteries in-flight and on the ground through an electrical connection that maintains the air-cargo container’s inside temperature while charging the batteries.

The one pallet RKN e1 container, using Thermo King Air 100 refrigeration system, and larger RAP e2 container, using Thermo King Air 200 refrigeration system, maintain product temperatures in the +2 to +8 Celsius range, controlled room temperature (+15 to +25 Celsius) range or at any chosen set temperature between ±0 and +25 Celsius in nearly any ambient condition, the companies say.

Both RKN e1 using Air 100 refrigeration unit and RAP e2 using Air 200 refrigeration unit are qualified as Good Distribution Practice (“GDP”) compliant for pharmaceutical transport and storage, the companies note.