Search

Nairobi airport seen ready to switch from fruit to vaccines - Reuters

buahkamp.blogspot.com
Workers at Mitchell Cotts Freight Kenya handle flowers for export inside their cold room, amid the coronavirus disease pandemic, at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Nairobi, Kenya, February 10, 2021. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s main airport in Nairobi will find it easy to switch from handling fruit to importing vaccines because it already has extensive cold storage, a leading logistics executive says.

Farm commodities such as fresh fruit and vegetables, which must be kept cold before being loaded onto planes at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, are among Kenya’s main exports.

“The fortunate thing about Jomo Kenyatta is it has the biggest capacity within the East Africa region because of the nature of our trade,” Daniel Tanui, managing director of Mitchell Cotts, one of the biggest logistics companies in the country, told Reuters.

“Those horticulture facilities are refrigerated. It is easy to convert and use for an emergency.”

Companies and governments around the world are racing to establish cold-chain storage and delivery systems for vaccines which must be shipped and stored at ultra-cold temperatures and can only be kept in a standard fridge for up to five days.

Mitchell Cotts has applied for international certification by health authorities to handle the imports, Tanui said, adding that it can handle vaccines which need to be kept as cold as -30 degrees.

The company will modify its existing pharma unit at its $25 million facility at the airport, adding extra cabinets to hold the vaccines, and enhancing security.

“When we designed this, we did not have in mind that a pandemic like COVID will be there and the number of vaccines that will come,” Tanui said.

Editing by Giles Elgood

Let's block ads! (Why?)



"fruit" - Google News
February 18, 2021 at 05:04PM
https://ift.tt/3jYWLHE

Nairobi airport seen ready to switch from fruit to vaccines - Reuters
"fruit" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2pWUrc9
https://ift.tt/3aVawBg

Bagikan Berita Ini

0 Response to "Nairobi airport seen ready to switch from fruit to vaccines - Reuters"

Post a Comment

Powered by Blogger.