Transport of corona vaccine: These companies smell big money with Ulfs

It won't be long before the vaccination program can start in this country too. But transport not only poses challenges for manufacturers, but also for the logistics industry. Some medium-sized manufacturers of so-called ultra low freezers now want to seize the opportunity.

Events are currently overturning in the development of the corona vaccine. At the beginning of the week, both the Mainz-based company Biontech and its partner Pfizer, as well as the US group Moderna, submitted an application for approval for their vaccine to the European Medicines Agency (Ema). Even before the USA and the EU, Great Britain was the first country in the world to approve the vaccine from Mainz. If the Ema gives the green light, the Biontech vaccine could also be used in the EU before the end of the year.

As soon as the time has come, things have to happen as quickly as possible. After approval by the authorities, Biontech could deliver its vaccine "within a few hours," says CFO Sierk Poetting. "We were producing in stockpiles. And everything that is there can really be distributed within a few hours." Be well prepared for this distribution. The logisticians Deutsche Post DHL, Fedex, UPS and Kuehne + Nagel never tire of emphasizing that they are well prepared.

But the transport of the cans poses a major challenge for the logistics industry: The crux of the transport lies in the cooling of the preparations. According to a study by the Post subsidiary DHL, around 200,000 pallet deliveries on 15,000 cargo flights will be required to ship ten billion vaccine doses over the next two years – and this in turn requires 15 million cool boxes or so-called ultra low freezers (Ulf for short). With the transport of the corona vaccine, some medium-sized companies in Germany sense their great opportunity. Among others: Mecotec from Bitterfeld, Va-Q-Tec from Würzburg and Binder from Tuttlingen.

Va-Q-Tec wants to avoid overproduction

The enterprise Mecotec from Saxony-Anhalt has so far mainly produced ice saunas and cold chambers. In the course of the corona pandemic, the medium-sized company from Bitterfeld received the order to ensure the deep cooling of a vaccine after production – and developed a mobile hybrid container solution in which up to a million vaccine doses are transported and stored at temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees can be. During the transport, two power generators ensure the power supply, at the vaccination center the container can then be supplied via a power connection – without the vaccination doses having to be relocated. With a stationary and mobile deep cold store solution, the company also wants to meet the demand from numerous logisticians. It can store over two million vaccination doses without dry ice or the addition of cooling batteries.

Delivery bottlenecks would not threaten yet, but the delivery period is already four to eight weeks from receipt of the order, the company says when asked by ntv.de. The industrial refrigeration specialist does not assume that the vaccination program will be finished in a year. In Asia, Africa and South America in particular, vaccinations could drag on over the next two to three years. Upon request, the company announced that there was great international interest and enormous demand. Internationally, one is already in contract negotiations with interested parties. The company does not want to reveal who the interested parties are.

While Mecotec is still in the middle of negotiations, it has a competitor Va-Q-Tec already nailed it. The manufacturer of thermal containers, founded in 2001, has already agreed to deliver several thousand containers with a large pharmaceutical manufacturer. According to the company, the vaccine will be distributed with them after approval in the first quarter of 2021. "The agreement is the most extensive in our twenty-year company history and probably one of the most extensive in the industry," says founder Joachim Kuhn. The company from Würzburg, which has been listed on the stock exchange for four years, manufactures containers that can withstand temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius for five to six days with outside temperatures of more than 30 degrees using dry ice and special insulation.

The containers and aircraft containers from Va-Q-Tec have been used around the world since spring for the transport of every second Covid-19 test kit – because they also need a constant temperature of minus 20 degrees. Even then, they began to gradually increase the international fleet. "Thanks to our in-house value chain and a multi-supplier strategy, we were able to avoid delivery bottlenecks," the company reports to ntv.de. They want to meet the challenge of vaccine transports with increased production of additional boxes and containers. Since the number of temperature-sensitive drugs will continue to rise in the future, the people in Würzburg are certain that increasing the fleet will also be worthwhile in the future. Nevertheless, Kuhn wants to avoid overproduction of the ultra-refrigerated containers, which cost more than 10,000 euros each to manufacture. "We are increasing the number with care. With an annual growth in the market of more than ten percent, we are not at all afraid that we will be left with empty containers after Corona," Kuhn told Reuters.

Extra shifts, weekend work, additional staff

Even with the Swabian climatic cabinet specialist binder demand has increased since summer. The medium-sized company produces around 22,000 devices per year exclusively in Tuttlingen. Depending on the size and equipment, these cost around 15,000 euros. The multi-stage refrigeration systems built into it bring the temperature level down to minus 90 degrees. Thanks to an additional type of super insulation, the cabinet is still at room temperature on the outside.

In order to meet the increased demand from logistics companies, extra shifts and weekend work were introduced and the staff was increased. According to company founder Michael Binder, production output has increased by more than 200 percent in the past few weeks. Nevertheless, Binder does not want to expand the company, as he says in the ntv podcast "something learned again". "We won't be planning a new factory to manufacture more devices there, and then Corona will be over in two or three years." Instead, they want to do everything that can bring production numbers up with a relatively short-term effect. "I assume that the situation will calm down from the third quarter of 2021."

A look at the manufacturers of ultra-freezers shows: SMEs in particular are now in demand. Can the industry even manage that? "Managing vaccine logistics is far too big for one person," says Mecotec. According to Va-Q-Tec, the greatest challenge lies not only in international logistics, but also in the "last mile" – that is, in transport within the countries.