Singapore Airlines (SIA) has risen to the most crucial logistical challenge of contemporary history, to safely and efficiently ship COVID-19 vaccines globally.
Chin Yau Seng, SIA Cargo’s Senior Vice President has stated that the company has been working hard to secure transportation and distribution of time – and temperature- sensitive COVID-19 vaccines around the world.
For the 2019-2020 financial year, SIA cargo carried about 22,000 tons of pharmaceutical consignments across its tracks. It is considered a chief transportation hub for pharmaceuticals, particularly for biologic shipments from Europe and India to South-East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Due to the rise in COVID-19 vaccine production, an internal task force was established in May 2020 to take care of all elements of cargo operations and logistics. Numerous shareholders were engaged across the supply chain and in pharmaceutical export markets.
SIA arranged for cargo space to be expanded on their flights and agreed that COVID-19 vaccine shipments would be dealt with priority on the main trade lines.
Boeing 747-400 freighters are about to be used, as they are made to transfer both passengers and goods.
Also, SIA signed Master Leasing Agreements with crucial cold chain container providers, among others, with CSafe, DoKaSch, Envirotainer, Skycell, and Va-Q-Tec.
With extended access to temperature-controlled containers, SIA is ready to manage large volumes of vaccines from various suppliers.
Some of those are the recently approved Pfitzer-BioNTech vaccines and several other vaccines that are yet waiting for approval, such as the Russian Sputnik V, China’s Sinovac, Moderna vaccines, and AstraZeneca Oxford vaccines.