Brussels launches pharma dolly to reduce airside temperature excursions

PARIS – For much of the morning on day one of TIACA’s Air Cargo Forum, a red curtain surrounded a mysterious adjunct to the Brussels Airport (BRU) booth. When the afternoon arrived, and the curtain was finally lifted, Brussels introduced its newest Airside Pharma Transporter to the world. At the same time, the airport revealed its new technology for keeping case upon case of Belgian beer cold for the duration of the two and a half-day event – hardly a pharmaceutical product, but still precious nonetheless.

As a key driving force behind the development of IATA’s CEIV-Pharma excellence handling program, Brussels Airport said it understands very well where the majority of temperature excursions occur — not on the aircraft, but instead while cargo is on the tarmac. With the new smart dolly, “the missing link” to a nearly perfected pharma supply-chain has been found, quipped Brussels Cargo head, Alban Francois.

The design and manufacturing process behind the Transporter was a partnership between Netherlands-based SPS (which owns the design and patent for the dolly), and Belgium-based Integrate, which provided the coolant and emission-free thermal buffer system responsible for keeping the interior cool. Stakeholders at BRU, including Brussels Airlines and forwarder Expeditors International, were also instrumental in laying out their needs for the dolly, Francois said.

The solar-powered, trailer-mounted dolly boasts the ability to run for up to 36 hours on a single charge during the summer months and up to 24 hours in the winter. Internal temperatures, meanwhile, can be maintained at a range between 5 to 25 degrees Celsius. BRU now has four of the dollies on site, which are bookable in four-hour increments, either on a single or reoccurring basis through its BRUCloud equipment booking tool.

Phillip Dekker, regional director for Belgium, Luxembourg, Iberia and Greece at Expeditors International, said the new dollies will be a boon for trans-Atlantic pharma. Expeditors, which operates an on-site facility at BRU, has long partnered with United Cargo to offer a dedicated “transatlantic pharma corridor” linking BRU and Washington Dulles Airport. Dekker said that Expeditors and United Cargo were both looking to add new destinations to the pharma corridor, thanks to the new smart dolly unit.

BRU’s CEO, Arnaud Feist, said, “the pharmaceutical branch is one of the most important sectors in our country and has a large added value for our economy. It is therefore essential that we offer the required customized service when these products are exported.”