SkyCell expands reach with All Nippon Airways partnership to support growing import needs in Japan
2021.08.31
SkyCell expands reach with All Nippon Airways partnership to support growing import needs in Japan
31 August, 2021 - SkyCell, the manufacturer of innovative hybrid pharmaceutical containers, has partnered with All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's largest airline, to help support pharmaceutical customers shipping in and out of Japan in a safe, secure, and sustainable way.
The partnership with SkyCell will also see the airline reach more of its sustainability goals. ANA expects there to be stronger demand for sustainability in the future, and can offer its customers more sustainable shipping options through SkyCell.
SkyCell currently has one service centre in Japan that will support the Japanese market with container availability in the country.
SkyCell will be supporting ANA with its dedicated pharmaceutical containers across different temperature ranges to cover customers' various needs. SkyCell containers maintain internal temperature stability in external conditions from as low as -30°C to as high as +70°C. The complete temperature range includes the deep-frozen container that is able to maintain internal temperatures between -80°C and -60°C for extended periods of time. Thanks to the innovative technology of SkyCell, ANA will be able to utilise full aircraft capacity, mitigating the traditional capacity limitations caused by the use of dry ice by making energy transfer more efficient.
The high-quality hybrid containers can maintain stable temperatures without the need for external charging for long periods of time, meaning special infrastructure is not needed to keep the containers at optimal temperatures. By using lightweight, environmentally-friendly material, the technology enables efficiency and reusability; the packing solution is also shock-absorbent to mitigate any breakage during transport, and has a double-door system to protect the packing in high-humidity countries.
Chiara Venuti, Business Development Director and Airline Partners, SkyCell, comments: "We at SkyCell are proud to partner with ANA to show our commitment to supporting the Japanese market, and ensure vital medicines reach their destinations fast and without spoilage. When shipping vital pharmaceutical products, there is no room for error. We have created a complete solution that ensures shipments can be safely transported from production to patients around the world."
Dai Yuasa, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing, ANA Cargo, comments: "We are very glad to announce our new partnership with SkyCell. As the first Japanese IATA CEIV Pharma certified airline since 2017, we have been expanding our capabilities to transport temperature-controlled pharmaceuticals at the global standard and beyond. Especially through this COVID-19 situation, now more than ever, transporting pharmaceuticals safely is a social mission for every process involved in the chain. We want to provide every customers' needs for various pharmaceuticals including vaccines. The addition of SkyCell to our product lineup is our commitment to our valued customers."
About SkyCell
SkyCell is the leading manufacturer of temperature controlled door to door container solutions that allows pharma companies to optimise their supply chain by reducing, and even predicting, the risk of delivering sensitive drugs by air. SkyCell brings together big data, software and hardware to transform the decades-old global pharma cold supply chain, using a growing pool by nearly one billion data-points to enable a market leading failure rate of less than 0.1% whilst reducing CO2 emissions by almost half.
Founded in Switzerland in 2012, the company has been validated by the majority of the top 20 pharma companies. SkyCell is the number three player in the world in temperature-controlled air freight solutions, in a market currently worth USD 2.8 bn per annum and growing at a rate of 15-20%.
About ANA
ANA was founded in 1952 with two helicopters and has become the largest airline in Japan, as well as one of the most significant airlines in Asia, operating 58 international routes and 117 domestic routes. ANA offers a unique dual hub model which enables passengers to travel to Tokyo and connect through the two airports in the metropolitan Tokyo, NARITA and HANEDA, to various destinations throughout Japan, and also offers same day connections between various North American, Asian and Chinese cities.
ANA has been a member of Star Alliance since 1999 and has joint venture partnerships with United Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines.
In addition to the full service and award-winning record of ANA, the ANA Group's subsidiary Peach Aviation Limited is the leading LCC in Japan, and has expanded following the integration of Vanilla Air Inc. in late 2019. The ANA Group carried 54.4 million passengers in FY2018, has approximately 43,000 employees and a fleet of 260 aircraft. ANA is a proud launch customer and the biggest operator of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
ANA is committed to using its fleet of two Boeing 777 freighters and nine Boeing 767 freighters to meet demand and facilitate international commerce.
The transportation of vaccines presents a number of logistical hurdles, requiring ANA to leverage its full range of expertise and experience gained at the forefront of cargo transportation. Despite the challenges, ANA has an exceptional track record in the delivery of pharmaceutical goods and has established a reliable and efficient operational structure for the global delivery of vaccines and other crucial medical supplies. In addition, ANA has been certified by IATA's Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) since 2017, making it the first Japanese airline to receive this distinction.
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