United Cargo, DSV and Va-Q-Tec combine for frozen plasma delivery

July 11, 2020

Passive containers maintain a -20°C temperature spec

United Cargo says that it has been working with logistics partners to deliver approximately 35,000 lb of blood plasma, weekly, among a variety of international locations during recent months, despite the difficulties in air freight created by the Covid-19 pandemic. (While some of the plasma might be intended for Covid-19 patient treatment, this is apparently not the sole application.)

Besides employing United Cargo planes, the shipments involve DSV Air and Sea (a unit of Denmark’s DSV Panalpina A/S) which includes warehousing and ground transportation, and va-Q-tec, suppliers of the TWINx shipping container (pictured). The shipments are delivered at -20°C in the TWINx containers, which use va-Q-tec phase-change materials capable of operating between -70 and 25°C (depending on the type of PCM in use).

United Cargo boasts that it has kept a “commercial air bridge” open globally during the pandemic, having made 3,500 cargo-only shipments between the US and over 20 cities globally during the mid-March to mid-June period. In late April, it also announced that it was the first US carrier to make the Opticooler RAP unit (which can hold up to five Euro-size pallets) available to clients as part of its TempControl service. Opticooler is a product of DoKaSch Temperature Solutions.