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By Ilona Wissenbach
FRANKFURT, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Cold-storage specialist
va-Q-tec is significantly expanding its fleet of 2,500
rental containers to meet growing demand to transport COVID-19
vaccines that need to be kept as low as -70 degrees Celsius
(-94°F), its chief executive said.
The German company is in talks with all the major
pharmaceutical manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines, CEO Joachim
Kuhn told Reuters in an interview.
Kuhn said the company would "significantly expand" its fleet
of rental containers in the coming year. He did not specify how
many extra containers were planned, though said it would not be
to the extent of doubling the fleet.
Va-Q-tec is among a handful of high-end packaging providers
who have found themselves in high demand as drugmakers and
logistics firms prepares to transport such shots around the
world. Its shares have risen by 230% this year, valuing the
company at around $690 million.
The company's turnover has increased by 30% annually over
the past 10 years. "We expect this growth to continue in a
similar form," said the CEO, adding that global vaccine
distribution might take several years.
"We are carefully increasing the number. With the market
growing by more than 10% per year, we are not afraid that we
will be left sitting on empty containers after corona."
The Würzburg-based company completed a 25 million Swiss
franc ($27.4 million) bond issue on Monday to help fund its
expansion plans.
It manufactures "passive" containers, which use dry ice to
keep the contents at ultra-cold temperatures for up to five or
six days, as opposed to "active" containers that also use
electric motors for cooling.
The vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer and
BioNTech, which uses mRNA technology, needs to be kept at about
-70 degrees Celsius, colder than the offerings from Moderna Inc
and AstraZeneca PLC.
Kuhn said va-Q-tec had contracts with the world's 20 largest
airlines and major freight-forwarders. He said intercontinental
transport with cargo flights was expected to be less of a
problem than last-mile distribution on the road, given there was
experience in transporting super-cold goods by air.
"To meet the demand for dry ice is not a big problem in our
latitudes with sufficient regional production," Kuhn said. "It
will be a challenge in countries that do not have this
infrastructure in Africa, Latin America or Russia."
(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach, Reuters TV; Writing by Jamie
Freed; Editing by Pravin Char)
