- Emirates Vital and Emirates Medical Devices, developed in consultation with customers, address the global healthcare industry’s evolving needs and build on SkyCargo’s undisputed expertise and leadership in pharma logistics.
Emirates SkyCargo has launched two new tailor-made solutions for the global healthcare industry under its refreshed and rebranded “Life Sciences and Healthcare” product range.
The airline’s “Life Sciences and Healthcare” portfolio encompasses its existing market-leading pharma transport solutions; and adds two new solutions: Emirates Vital and Emirates Medical Devices – both of which were developed in consultation with customers to ensure it is purpose-fit and future-ready.
Watch a video on the new product portfolio here.
The Emirates SkyCargo team will be working closely with specialist freight forwarders globally to roll out these new services.
Nabil Sultan, Divisional Senior Vice President, Emirates SkyCargo said: “Our Pharma business is already a market leader, and each week we move around 2 million kilogrammes of pharmaceutical cargo across the globe. Since 2015, we’ve invested over $200m to build our capabilities and now we have very strong expertise and insights into the pharma and broader life sciences space.
“By listening to our customers, we saw an opportunity to support the global health industry’s advances in personalised patient treatments and meet the growing need for priority services in air cargo logistics to move sensitive materials and equipment – for instance, those used in the research of sophisticated therapies like gene editing and cell therapy.
“We are on a mission to help the world work better – not only for our customers but also for their end customers – individual patients. By expanding our product range and ensuring these solutions are purpose-built and future-fit, we aim to ship more vital treatments and supplies to benefit more lives around the world.”
Facilitating a new era in global healthcare air logistics
Transporting clinical trials, human organs and tissues, and cell and gene therapy, Emirates Vital (AXT) will be a white glove service with the Emirates control tower team monitoring every shipment making sure we deliver as promised. We will speed up connection times in Dubai for shipments with transit times of under four hours by utilising the bulk hold of the aircraft and dedicated vans on the ramp to move the shipments to the connecting flights.
Emirates Medical Devices (AXM) is another new stand-alone product to support the movement of equipment for the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and monitoring of diseases. The service, which is designed to transport everything from ventilators and test kits, to X-ray machines and MRIs, ensures all cargo moved follows the developing Medical Device Regulations and Good Distribution Practice (GDP) compliant.
SkyCargo’s existing range of solutions for the safe and reliable transport of pharmaceuticals are: Emirates Pharma (AXS) for less temperature-sensitive items or shipments that already come with advanced passive packaging and utilises Emirates Pharma covers from Origin to Destination; Emirates Pharma Plus (AXD) combines both Emirates Pharma covers and our fleet of cool dollies on the ramp in Dubai to mitigate the risk of temperature fluctuations; and Emirates Pharma Active (AXC) which offers the highest category of protection and control using active containers from six suppliers for extremely sensitive pharma products like insulin, vaccines and Oncology drugs.
World-leading logistics facilities
Emirates SkyCargo offers belly-hold cargo capacity on Emirates’ fleet of modern wide-body aircraft, as well as in 11 dedicated Boeing 777 freighters. It operates two state-of-the-art cargo terminals at its hub in Dubai, offering transit times of as little as three hours air-to-air. The terminals offer a total cargo capacity of around one million tonnes per year, with the ability to raise this to 1.3 million tonnes. There is 15,000m2 of dedicated storage for temperature-sensitive goods such as perishables and pharmaceuticals.
SkyCargo’s Pharma cool chain handling capabilities include 9 main deck cool dollies, 41 lower deck cool dollies, as well as 12 refrigerated trucks. The three-tier product range provides shipping capabilities for everything from high-temperature tolerance pharmaceuticals, right the way through to high-value cargo requiring active container temperature control.
Future growth
The new solutions offered under Life Science and Healthcare are the first of more developments to follow in Emirates SkyCargo’s ambition to lead the market in delivering specialist solutions that are fast, reliable, flexible, and efficient. The cargo airline leverages the vast global network capabilities of Emirates and the world-class logistics infrastructure at its Dubai hub; and it makes continual investments in digitalisation, technology, facilities, and building its team of logistics specialists.
Other leading solutions from SkyCargo include: Perishables, its largest business unit by tonnage, with an estimated 500-600 tonnes travelling on Emirates flights across the world every day; a bespoke solution for Valuables, developed over the years with customers in Dubai’s thriving gold and jewellery industry; alongside Mail & Courier capabilities for regional and international postal service providers.
Nabil Sultan added: “The global supply chain is evolving rapidly. There’s increased expectation around lead times and sourcing that makes air cargo uniquely placed as the fastest and safest logistics mode. Emirates’ Dubai hub is in a prime position to address these demands with its modern infrastructure, progressive policies, and geographic advantage – being able to reach 2.5 billion people within 4 hours of flight. Emirates SkyCargo is ready for the new world of logistics and we’ll continue to build on our capabilities to deliver ever better solutions to our customers.”
In November 2022, Emirates announced an order for 5 new Boeing 777 freighter aircraft to be delivered in 2024 and 2025, and it has plans to grow the fleet further through a retrofit programme for 10 freighters.
Globally, Emirates offers cargo capacity to over 150 destinations across six continents. This includes 13 destinations in the US, 17 in the Far East, and 36 in Europe.
As part of its product refresh, Emirates SkyCargo has launched a brand-new creative advertising campaign at air cargo Europe, showcasing how ‘The World Works Better with Emirates SkyCargo’. Through everyday scenarios, the advert demonstrates how essential its logistics business is to connect people and products all around the world, whether that is through life-saving healthcare, fresh fruit, flowers, pets, or valuables.
