Cathay Pacific to launch Covid-19 vaccine transport solution

Cathay Pacific Cargo has developed new solution specifically for the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.

The airline said its new vaccine solution is quality assured and will offer its Ultra Track service and an operations control centre.

Ultra Track monitors information including temperature, GPS location, and humidity, using low-energy Bluetooth readers.

The operations centre will be open 24/7 and will monitor shipments using Ultra Track.

“The team can instruct ramp and cargo terminal staff to take proactive steps to ensure the various storage requirements of vaccines are maintained,” Cathay Pacific said.

Cathay Pacific director cargo Tom Owen said: “Ultra Track will allow forwarders to monitor the condition of their vaccine shipments in near real time.

“It will be progressively rolled out through the first quarter of this year, and we will be offering the service free of charge for any Covid-19 vaccine shipments.”

The carrier also pointed out that Cathay Pacific Cargo, the Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal managed by Cathay Pacific Services Limited (CPSL) and ground-handling subsidiary Hong Kong Airport Services (HAS) have all been re-certified to IATA CEIV standards.

The Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal is also being expanded to offer more temperature controlled capacity.

While it is currently able to temporarily hold and transit 6.6m doses of vaccine a day, but this in the process of being expanded to 8.2m doses per day.

Cathay Pacific is not the only airline to have developed a Covid-19 vaccine service.  In December, Lufthansa Cargo announced that it would launch a Covid-19 vaccine transport service on January 11.