Hyderabad Airport enhances cold chain with mutli-ULD cool dolly

India’s GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) has started using a multi-ULD cool dolly for the transportation of temperature- and time-sensitive shipments such as pharma and perishable cargo.

Comprising of a steel trailer and an aluminium insulated container, the cool dolly acts as a mobile storage unit for cargo from the terminal to the aircraft.

The cool dolly’s compartments provide an “unbroken cold chain” for shipments to be transported between -2 degrees celsius to 8 degrees celsius, or between 15 degrees celsius to 25 degrees celsius. Additionally, it can hold around 7 tonnes of cargo in a single trip.

Other benefits of the multi-ULD cool dolly include: it’s capability to accommodate various configurations of ULD; dual-sided openings to facilitate the loading and unloading of ULDs; a flexible locking system to prevent cargo pallets from moving; heat insulation; and data logging functionalities.

Use of the multi-ULD cool dolly at GHIAL was announced at the Air Cargo-Changing Dimensions webinar, organised by GMR Group as part of its ongoing webinar series titled ‘Reposing the faith in flying’.

Vandana Aggarwal, senior economic advisor, ministry of civil aviation, made the announcement. Other speakers on the panel during the webinar included: Pradeep Panicker, chief executive, GHIAL; Tulsi Mirchandaney, managing director, Blue Dart Aviation; Keku Gazder, chief executive, AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services (AAICLAS); and Satish Lakkaraju, chief commercial officer, Agility Logistics.

Panicker commented: “We are continuously striving to provide our customers with innovative and sustainably-designed cargo handling solutions. The cool dolly is a crucial value addition to the unbroken cold chain at Hyderabad International Airport for life-saving and temperature sensitive cargo.

“With more than 70% of cargo being pharma, our cool dolly has enhanced the airport’s capabilities multifold in our efforts to provide customers safe handling of the essential cargo such as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, fruits, vegetables and other perishables.”