Sonoco ThermoSafe conducts successful ULD test shipment

Sonoco ThermoSafe, a temperature assurance packaging company, and AirBridgeCargo Airlines, an all-cargo carrier within the Volga-Dnepr Group, have effectively conducted a test shipment with ThermoSafe’s new Pegasus ULD. The companies call it “the world’s first passive bulk temperature-controlled container for pharmaceutical use that is an approved unit load device.”

The businesses originally signed a master lease agreement last November.

The shipping process involved multiple segments of ground and air transportation, beginning in London and including stops in Amsterdam, Moscow and Frankfurt, spanning over 130 hours. According to Sonoco ThermoSafe, the Pegasus ULD contains a fully integrated, FAA-approved telemetry system, providing real-time, cloud-based data on payload and ambient temperature and key environmental factors, coordinated with GPS location, which confirmed that the internal temperature held between 2°C and 8°C (35.6°F and 46.4°F) throughout the entire mission.

This shipment illustrated Pegasus’ effectiveness to address two issues surrounding bulk passive pharma packaging technologies: providing long duration (greater than five days) thermal performance and a design that simplifies operational handling at every step, from trucking to ground handling to flying.