Lufthansa invests to handle more pharmaceutical shipments

Lufthansa invests to handle more pharmaceutical shipments    Lufthansa Air Cargo said it has expanded its Cool/td temperature-sensitive service with new investment in warehouse and airplane capacity.
   During the next couple of months, Lufthansa will retrofit its entire fleet of 14 MD11 freighter aircraft with more precise temperature regulators in the lower hold, spokesperson Rene Granacher said. Previously, Lufthansa could only use the main deck and the front compartment of the lower deck for goods requiring refrigeration because the rest of the lower deck did not have the a sophisticated, regulated heating systems necessary for exact temperature control, Granacher said.
   In addition to increasing cooling space on its aircraft, Lufthansa said it is tripling its temperature-controlled warehouse space at Chicago's O-Hare International Airport.
   Combined the upgrades will cost a few million dollars, Granacher said.
   Lufthansa developed its Cool/td service especially for the pharmaceutical industry, which requires vaccines, serums, plasma and other materials to be kept at precise temperatures.
   Cool/td rates will increase Oct. 1 because the company that provides Lufthansa with its special temperature control containers, Envirotainer Engineering, is raising rental fees, the company said.