The Covid pandemic has thrown open a new vaccine transportation opportunity.

Story by Team CV

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) made news with its ‘BSafe Express’ Covid vaccine van based on its 2823R truck chassis recently. It cooperated with Motherson Sumi Group to develop the vehicle. A Mahindra CV dealer in the Mumbai region, Randhawa Motors, took to the social media not much after to announce that it has supplied five vaccine vans based on the Jayo LCV to the Maharashtra Health Department. With two million shots distributed across the country as of January 25, 2021, the enormity of the exercise, the growing hesitation among the population of 136.64 crore not withstanding, should be evident at once in terms of logistics. With road transportation looking like the most promising way to get the Covid vaccines to every nook and corner of the vast country under controlled conditions and quickly, a new transport segment seems to be on the rise. Like e-commerce, it is a segment that promises big, but would it stay that way for long? Would railways soon overtake road transportation with special refrigerated wagons? If not, then would road transport get to complement airways and railways in what looks like a sizeable opportunity? And, in which case, what about the purpose-built assets (reefer trucks) that would have to be created? Many questions need to be answered. Especially in the wake of the rising reluctance and the queries that are being raised.

Considering the government plan to contact all available cold chain and warehouse operators for the distribution of vaccines under Centre’s Universal Immunization Programme (UIP), the Indian logistics sector, estimated to be worth USD 215 billion, seems to be on the cusp of a sizeable growth opportunity. An opportunity to further elevate its growth, which is pegged at a CAGR of 10.5 per cent. Adding another jewel in its crown by contributing to the development of an efficient vaccine transportation system, the Indian logistics sector, like the e-commerce segment, could have another segment to look at for a faster growth opportunity at least until it exists. And, considering the transportation of around 1.1 crore Covishield vaccines throughout India in Phase-one, it could not be an opportunity to waste for certain. In fact, the advantage that road transport could offer to carry vaccine vials across thousands of kilometers, into every city, town and village of the populous and fast modernising country could out perform any other transportation medium envisaged. Not unless, the Government pushes for a drone service!

A sizeable opportunity
From the time the first three reefer trucks rolled out of the Serum Institute premises at Pune for the Pune airport, much water has flown under the bridge. The reefer trucks based on a Tata truck chassis and belonging to Pune-based Kool-Ex Cold Chain Ltd., a company specialising in temperature-controlled and thermally insulated transportation, aptly highlighted the opportunity road transport had in transporting the vaccine vials. Expressed the company’s co-founder and director, Kunal Agarwal, that they have had existing contracts with Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech under which they have regularly transporting other vaccines. “The Covid vaccine however got our job extra attention,” he added. Against the population of 136.64 crore and vaccine export opportunities, companies like Kool-Ex with prior experience in the transportation of vaccines could still be numbered. Numbered despite the claim of some 300 Kool-Ex reefer trucks being deployed for the job with the Serum Institute.
A sizeable opportunity exists for certain, but also the need for efficient purpose-built assets. That is perhaps the biggest challenge. With companies like Gati Kausar, TCI Express, Snowman Logistics, Mahindra logistics, OM Logistics, and MuDiTa gearing up for Covid vaccines consignments, the challenge of efficient, reliable and modern reefer trucks as assets is important. If such assets do not exist at this point in time, their creation is necessary. Given the need, even the conversion of existing reefer trucks could fall short. Mentioned Vikram Murthy, National President, ISHRAE, that India requires more than 11,500 refrigerated vehicles to distribute the vaccine. Over and above it, the vehicles should be able to store the vials in a very narrow temperature range that could well be beyond the scope of existing reefer trucks. The fact that the temperature of the vaccine compartment has to be maintaining precisely is not an easy task. It is clearly not as easy as to store frozen foods. The need to maintain precise temperatures makes it important that there is constant monitoring. There is use of technologies like IoT and automation.

Existing versus new assets
In a vast country like India where road infrastructure is not the best or the most efficient, the task of transporting vaccines is not as easy as it may be made out to be. Not despite the fact that Gati Kausar is ready with its fleet of 120 trucks; Snowman Logistics is ready with its existing refrigerated trucks for vaccine distribution and has vacated one chamber each across its 31 facilities in 15 parts of  India, and TCI is ready with 400 dedicated reefer trucks in its fleet. Not despite the logistics companies chalking out a fool-proof plan to transport vaccines in close cooperation with aeroplane companies. Speed is made important by the need to transport the vaccine vials on the road for the first mile and the last mile, if not for a certain extent of line-haul. The entire task of Covid vaccine transportation is something that will succeed only with close cooperation between the government and private players, said a pharma industry observer. It is far more complicated than it is made out to be, he added. With companies like Golden Highway Good Carriers and RAVI Integrated Logistics (India) Pvt. Ltd. looking at entering the fray with trucks and warehouses to offer, a need to examine if existing infrastructure could be converted for use or an all-new asset creation in necessary.

This is made important by the clear divide between modern quality (reefer truck) builds and aging ones against the stringent temperature control needs for vaccine transportation. The need for high degree of connectivity too. To expect existing trucks to be fitted out with new superstructures, ACs or advanced telematics systems almost overnight would be a daunting task. Fresh assets would do the job better, both in terms of reliability as well as productivity. With the vials needing to be stored and transported at the prescribed temperature, the complexities involved are about maintaining temperature on and off the grid; about maintaining temperature through passive cooling as well. Offering its range of refrigerated trucks for transportation of the COVID-19 vaccine countrywide on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal for purchase, Tata Motors has been quick to announce vaccine transportation trucks. So has been Daimler India, which announced a vaccine truck in association with Motherson Sumi Group recently. Both CV makers have associated with leading reefer body manufacturers to present vaccine trucks in a variety of capacities and tonnage points. For example, in the ICV and MCV segment, Tata Motors is offering 20 and 32 cu. m. refrigerated trucks. Daimler is highlighting the use of high-end light weight air-conditioner and XPS/GRP material for the body construction of its vaccine truck based on the 2823R chassis. Said Averred Rajaram Krishnamurthy, Vice President Marketing & Sales and Customer Services, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, that the reefer trucks they are offering under the BSafe sub-brand are fitted with advanced PLC control and a smart telematics suite.

VE Commercial Vehicles has announced purpose-built reefer truck range measuring 10 to 24 ft and a GVW that ranges from 4.9-tonnes to 16-tonnes. The trucks are claimed to offer suitable temperature range to meet Covid vaccine transportation needs. Pointing at the hurry in which CV makers have announced their products purpose-built for vaccine transportation, a pharma industry expert said that attention has to be paid to safe transportation of the vaccines above all. Given our road infrastructure, it would call for pneumatic suspension so that the glass vials do not bob. So, maintaining the right temperature is not the only challenge. It is, in fact, made complex by the fact that the refrigerated container is injected with metered quantities of dry ice, which is liquified carbon dioxide. The cooling starts after the dry ice evaporates. This calls for much monitoring with the use of advanced telematics. Almost all the BSVI trucks have such a system onboard. However, pre-BSVI trucks that are being converted to the task would need one. It would call for considerable investment. Drawing attention towards the fact that India has 29,000 storage points, 83,000 deep freezers, 736 district stores and 258 cold rooms to store vaccines, an industry observer mentioned that a key element being the reefer trucks, connectivity is not an option.

Advanced connectivity and other features
Trucks that transport the vaccine vials from the manufacturing plant to the warehouse or to yet another means of transport like an aeroplance, and thereafter to the last mile, need to be well-connected. As they deliver the vaccine vials to a tertiary or primary health centre the same day of stocking, the trucks need be replete with advanced telematics and monitoring systems. They need to be fitted with advanced PLC controls and air conditioning systems, said an industry source. He added that this calls for an innovative mindset; a rare combination of technology, knowledge, infrastructure and experience. Calling upon the need to work closely with the pharma industry by the CV industry, the source expressed that Covid vaccine transport is an opportunity that need not be missed. It is an opportunity, he added, that would highlight yet another achievement for the Indian CV industry as well as the road transport sector. Of the opinion that the CV makers, reefer body builders, AC and other material suppliers are but a part of a vast chain involved in the vaccination drive, Murthy averred that the work of vaccine transportation is of an unprecendented scale. He added that the scale of Covid vaccine operation would call for an amount of driver education and familiarisation across the chain. It would be about pre-cooling and various other aspects. Of the opinion that safeguards like vehicle-tracking and visible monitoring to eradicate theft and pilferage throughout transportation are essential, Murthy averred that the scale of operation calls for close cooperation between diverse stakeholders including CV manufacturers, AC suppliers, reefer body builders, reefer body material suppliers and many others to ensure that a robust Covid vaccine transport value chain is put in place.