Chicago Rockford Airport looks to partner on vaccine storage

Global logistics companies are bolstering their cold-chain capabilities for the eventual distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine, but not all operators are constructing massive new freezer farms like UPS. Chicago Rockford Airport (RFD) is instead seeking to partner with a specialist business — in this case, the temperature-controlled industrial REIT AmeriCold Logistics — to marshal pre-existing resources for its pandemic response. RFD is currently adding nearly 200,000 square feet of cargo facilities across multiple stages of construction. Still, the massive investment required to scale up specialized pharmaceutical facilities with limited uses beyond vaccine distribution is a logistics “gold rush,” according to Ken Ryan, RFD’s director of business development and cargo. “Part of the problem with COVID [vaccine storage] is this: two of the three [in-development vaccines] that we know of require -80 C storage, which is significant,” Ryan told Air Cargo World . “Secondly, they need a separate area from foodstuffs.” See also: Consultant Insight: Warehouse providers adjust for COVID-19 The difficulties involved in arranging for on-airport storage prompted RFD to contact AmeriCold, which is headquartered in Atlanta and has temperature-controlled facilities around the United States, including in Rochelle, Ill., about a 30-minute drive south of RFD. “The advantage of AmeriCold, from our perspective, is that not only can they do the -80 C cold storage, or any increments of cold, but they also have their own transportation system, which means they can send up clean reefer trucks,” said Ryan. “They can bring them right to Rockford Airport, have [vaccine shipments] whisked right off the plane into the reefer trucks, and in 35 or 40 minutes they’re in a storage facility. So that is something I’m going to at least offer to those airlines and airfreight forwarders that are looking at us.” The backbone of global logistics has historically been the way third-party logistics companies are able to facilitate global shipments regularly via carrier partners. The cost of building and maintaining own-operated assets may otherwise be prohibitive, even as the industry is scrambling to find solutions for shipments that have not even begun. “We do take risks as an airport, but my recommendation to the airport is: Don’t do that,” said Ryan. “But in the meantime, there are those who have all this experience, and if we can partner with them, and we can get the airfreight forwarder or the airline to partner with them on this, they’re very interested.” Ken Ryan will participate in the upcoming Cargo Airport Growth Summit , which takes place as a virtual event from Nov . 17-18 , on the session, “Removing barriers to e-commerce & express.” Click here for more information or to register .

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Chicago Rockford Airport looks to partner on vaccine storage

Aviation layoffs build as pandemic drags on

COVID resurgence, peaks anxiety in Europe

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