Thermo Container System

It began five years ago as a puzzle to be solved - how to maintain a consistent 2ºC - 8ºC temperature range for investigational drugs and other critical research compounds being shipped to hospitals or laboratories around the globe.

Thermo Container System

With lengthy transit times over variable temperature zones posing a threat to delicate temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical consignments, demand for a high-end shipping solution has grown incrementally in recent years. "Although many pharmaceutical products are robust enough to handle small temperature excursions, many others cannot withstand even the most minor temperature iteration," says Dieter Schäfer, Manager of Quality Assurance & Service Development for World Courier (Deutschland) GmbH (pictured here). "Our goal at World Courier has been to create an optimum temperature-controlled shipping system to accommodate these high-value and often irreplaceable products."

A State-of-the-art Thermo Container System

Since 2004, Mr. Schäfer and his Frankfurt-based Quality Assurance team have dedicated themselves to the task of developing a multi-use state-of-the-art Thermo Container System (TCS) for just these types of shipments. The result is a full line of World Courier VIP packaging solutions.

Based on a "passive" design concept, VIP boxes are engineered to create a storage environment which mirrors the temperature of the commodity, thereby minimizing temperature fluctuations. Each box consists of a double-sided melamine shell which is carefully fitted with Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs), high-performing paraffin/salt-based Phase Change Material-Accus (PCM) and an inner liner.

The design, material selection, prototype assembly and performance testing are all managed personally by Mr. Schäfer and his team. Local manufacturers then produce the components which are assembled in-house to exacting specifications. There are currently 1,100 units in circulation among World Courier offices in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific where performance and client feedback has been nothing short of spectacular.

Vacuum Insulation Packaging

Product Stability Case Studies

In one incident, airline mishandling resulted in a "no show" Copenhagen/Frankfurt shipment which would only turn up nine days later in Istanbul. Temperature recording data downloaded at the time indicated that the internal temperature inside the VIP box had barely fluctuated despite extreme external temperature variations.

Another shipment of specialized medicine travelling from Harsewinkel (Germany) to México City required urgent dispatch with one of World Courier's on-board couriers. Uniquely, the medication was packed in a 3-liter VIP box, complete with both an internal temperature recorder and a barometer, before being secured inside the aircraft cabin on the seat next to the courier. Client requirements for this particularly sensitive drug called for both 2ºC-8ºC stability and consistently maintained air pressure stability at greater than 0.7 Bar. Subsequent data downloads confirmed that the VIP box had passed its first-ever "pressure test", with the medication arriving intact and ready to administer to the patient!

"We are very proud of our efforts to create a durable product that has exhibited such stable overall performance, such superior temperature control and which, at the same time, is more environmentally friendly than conventional single-use Styrofoam boxes," says Mr. Schäfer. "We believe our clients are very happy with our progress in all these areas."

Ever-growing Product Line-up

Building on its expertise with 2ºC to 8ºC packaging, World Courier now also offers VIP configurations to accommodate internal temperatures of -15°C to -25°C and +15°C to +25°C. Performance in these ranges has proven equally stable and successful. Moreover, ongoing experimentation with packaging for -25°C to -35°C and +30°C to +40°C shipments has been most promising, with the company planning to roll out these new options in the near future.

World Courier's VIP vacuum insulation packaging solutions can also accommodate shipments of virtually any capacity and are available in seven sizes - VIP-3L, VIP10-15L, VIP-L, VIP-XL, VIP-case, VIP-tainer and VIP-porter. An eighth model, the VIP-1.5L (also known as the "beauty case"), is currently being designed for sales purposes and other small payloads.

For more information on VIP packaging solutions, contact your local World Courier office by visiting our website and clicking on your home country.