I was reading a Zacks Research Report from August 2012. It seems all the major carriers were trying to go it alone in the cryogenic shipping space. In 2 years they had all signed with Cryoport. It tells me Cryoport has the best service, and as soon as one signed, the others did not want to be left behind in the immunotherapy revolution. We are witnessinig just the beginning of this revolution, and it all demands cryogenic temperatures, and there is no second chance to ship it again, if there is a problem in transit!
SPECIALTY LOGISTICS
The other side of the competitive spectrum is the service side of the business this comes mostly from specialty
logistics organizations. World Courier is the largest specialty courier service for the pharmaceutical industry the
company claims that they are involved in transportation and logistics with 80% of the world s clinical trials which
require specialty courier service. The company has over 140 offices throughout the world and offers
comprehensive clinical trial services including transportation scheduling from collection site to lab, expertise in
cold chain handling, dry ice replenishment, shipment monitoring with real-time tracking and customs clearance.
The company offers a proprietary clinical trials data management system which can, according to World Courier,
take clinical trial logistics management to an entirely new level and can proactively anticipate and prevent costly
transportation problems that are so often unavoidable when conducting studies .
CryoPort acknowledges that these specialty carriers offer a competitive threat but due to the relatively high cost of
these service providers, that CryoPort s system can provide a cheaper alternative with no compromise to service,
ease or convenience. In their recent investor presentation, CryoPort noted that a study done by Quest Diagnostics
showed that CryoPort s Express Shipping system cost approximately 20% less than compared to World Courier in
shipping to 21 Asian cities.
With the recent surge in cold chain shipping demand, large air carriers have been launching their own specialty
pharmaceutical shipping services. Pharmaceutical Commerce notes that in less than three years time the number
of airlines launching pharmaceutical product offerings has grown from four to more than a dozen. Some of these
include
American Airlines recently teamed up with Envirotainer, a manufacturer of large cold chain shipping
containers, in launching their ExpediteTC service which is focused on temperature-controlled shipping.
DHL and Lufthansa created a joint venture called LifeConEx which provides an all-inclusive pricing and
delivery system for temperature-sensitive biopharma products and with a specified, pre-validated container
whose delivery and return to LifeConEx takes responsibility for. LifeConEx has also announced an oceandelivery
service for life sciences, brandnamed H2Cargo .
UPS just launched its UPS Healthcare Logistics service with a focus on distribution, logistics and
transportation of pharmaceutical products including cold chain services.
FedEx Custom Critical is an expedited (same day or overnight) air shipping service which includes
temperature controlled products, handling and transportation. FedEx also recently rolled out its SenseAware
tracking device in 2010. The device, in real time, monitors the location and temperature of packages. FedEx
offers both the tracking device and related software to customers. FedEx s agreement with CryoPort, which
FedEx markets as FedEx Deep Frozen Shipping Solution, is part of the carriers FedEx Healthcare Solutions business.
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