Snowman Logistics to transport Sputnik vaccine across India

Snowman Logistics (Snowman), a leading integrated logistics service provider has inked a strategic partnership with Hyderabad-based Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to provide temperature-controlled end-to-end logistics solutions for the delivery of the two-dose Sputnik Covid-19 vaccine across India.

As part of the understanding, Snowman will manage the delivery through five of its high-capacity temperature-controlled warehouses in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bangalore. The company will offer storage, order processing, shipper packing and secondary transportation from these locations. The company says the locations are strategically located to take care of not just the state distribution, but the whole of the regional requirements. The temperature, throughout, will be maintained between -20 degree Celsius and -25 degree Celsius. With this, Snowman claims it will be the largest 3PL service provider for vaccines in the country offering national reach to Dr. Reddy’s Lab.

At present, Snowman Logistics has the capability to readily store 650 million doses at any given time, which can be increased to 1.05 billion doses with a short notice for all-India distribution. The company has the ability to store at upto -80 degree Celsius, and provides real-time temperature monitoring to ensure the correct conditions for vaccine distribution during the entire supply chain. In addition, the company has a Capex plan of roughly Rs 425 crore for capacity expansion, with a focus on the Pharma and e-commerce sector where the company has seen huge increases in demand since the onset of the pandemic, especially as there is a dearth of capacities in the organised sector.

The company has worked with clients in the pharma sector such as Abbott, Alkem, Bharat Biotech, GlaxoSmithKline, Inventia, MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme) Pharma), Novozymes, and Pfizer amongst others. In the last year, it has designed solutions catering to small volume locations where there are no cold storages (Small towns, Taluka, Village etc.), by using refrigerated containers and reach in freezers among others for effective temperature-controlled deliveries.

Sunil Nair, CEO, Snowman Logistics said, “Vaccine delivery is the need of the hour. With this partnership with Dr. Reddy’s, we aim to reach maximum institutions administering vaccines through our five high-capacity temperature-controlled warehouses. We are hopeful of carrying a seamless drive from these warehouses through our fleet of refrigerated vehicles maintaining the requisite temperatures throughout the delivery cycle. We will be delivering Sputnik vaccine to nearby states and cities as well from these strategic locations.”

Ishaan Gupta, joint MD, Gateway Distriparks and director, Snowman, added, “Snowman Logistics is a key vertical of the Gateway group, and we are proud to have built the largest private temperature-controlled warehouse capacity in India through which we can serve the country’s requirements at this difficult time. While we have been distributing COVID vaccines since the beginning of this year, we are excited about this partnership with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories through which we hope to provide Covid vaccines across India.”