COVID-19 vaccine distribution will soon be arriving via ships as well as planes to prevent a logistical jam that could lead to the shots piling up in warehouses instead of getting into the hands of healthcare professionals, the Financial Times (FT) reported.
Vaccine surplus
A.P. Moller-Maersk, the biggest container group worldwide, expects that by the middle of this year, vaccine distribution will likely surpass air freight capacity, according to the firm’s head of pharmaceuticals, per FT.
“By the middle of 2021, we will see a surplus of vaccines and see a logistics network that is not able to handle it in terms of air freight, cold-chain infrastructure,” Hristo Petkov, head of pharmaceuticals at Maersk, told FT. “Then shipping containers play a bigger role.”
So far, the majority of vaccinations have been distributed by trucks and planes, since most of the factories are in Europe, the U.S and India.
Ships will come into play in order to make vaccine deliveries in Africa, Asia and South America, which is expected to happen this summer.
Vaccine delivery through ships and planes
Maersk predicts that at that point, air freight capacity will not be able to keep up with the demand. About 50% of vaccines will be transported locally by delivery trucks or short-haul flights, Petkov told FT. However, the remaining 50% of distribution will be done by ship or plane.
Pressure from generic pharmaceutical companies to cut costs has boosted distribution via sea. Over the past 10 years, ships have been taking increasingly bigger bites out of air freight for the distribution of medical treatments, drugs and vaccinations.
The cost of shipping has escalated during the pandemic due to a surge in consumer spending. Maersk said it doesn’t typically see a peak in freight rates until the middle of the year.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — comprised of 37 members from around the globe — said vaccinations must roll out faster to hasten economic recovery.
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Source: Financial Times
