Air China Cargo plans to roll out a cold chain product
Air China Cargo, the flag cargo carrier of China, recently signed a Global Master Lease Agreement (MLA) with Envirotainer, the global market leader in secure cold chain solutions for the pharmaceutical supply chain. This is the first time Envirotainer partners with an airline that is based in Mainland China.
The partnership will greatly enhance the connectivity for pharmaceutical companies doing business with their suppliers and customers in China, while improving the availability of containers for exporters in China through the airline’s extensive network.
Air China Cargo plans to roll out a cold chain product this spring with further network expansion planned in 2016 based on market demand. The airline has identified 5 stations – Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Frankfurt and Geneva – as launch stations in its first phase of implementation.
The new partnership is expected to directly benefit bio-pharma companies importing and exporting active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), intermediates and other bulk and semi-finished products to and from the world’s second largest economy.
As part of its continued network expansion, Envirotainer opened a new service station in Shanghai, China in November 2015 to support growing cold chain business to the pharma supply chain. Envirotainer will continue to invest and open its network to ensure that its cold chain solutions are available globally. In the past year alone, the company has taken several steps to strengthen its position, including the opening of a new U.S. Headquarter in New York and a new office in Singapore, a stronger product and service offering, and the increase of production and of its container fleet size to satisfy market demand.
Envirotainer develops, manufactures and offers leasing of active container solutions with a controlled environment, including validation, support and service. The company with headquarters outside of Stockholm, Sweden, operates through an open, global network of airlines and forwarders.
Air China Cargo currently has a fleet comprising of 15 freighters – eight B777Fs, three B747-400Fs and four B757-200SFs. With the support of Air China’s passenger network, it serves more than 170 destinations globally, 26 of which are served by freighters. The cargo carrier also has over 1,285 truck services to supplement its freighter and passenger belly network.