Air China Cargo recently signed a global master lease agreement with Envirotainer, the global market leader in secure cold chain solutions for the pharmaceutical supply chain.

This is the first time Envirotainer partnered with an airline that is based in the People’s Republic of China.

The partnership will greatly enhance the connectivity for pharmaceutical companies doing business with their suppliers and customers in China, while improving the availability of containers for exporters in China through the airline’s extensive network.

Air China Cargo, the flag cargo carrier of China, plans to roll out a cold chain product this spring with further network expansion planned in 2016 based on market demand. The airline has identified five locations – Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Frankfurt and Geneva – as launch stations in its first phase of implementation.

“We are extremely pleased to be Envirotainer’s first airline partner in mainland China,” said Ray Lo, vice president for service and operations at Air China Cargo. “We place great importance in ensuring that pharmaceutical products carried on us get absolute care. With the extensive expertise and global presence Envirotainer has in the active cold chain, this allows us to ensure that temperature-sensitive shipments are just as effective and safe as when they left the production line.”

The new partnership is expected to directly benefit bio-pharma companies importing and exporting active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), intermediates and other bulk and semi-finished products to and from the world’s second largest economy.

“The partnership with Air China Cargo is another positive step forward in China, Asia Pacific, and worldwide, as more stations and capacity are added to the portfolio in order to support the growing demands,” said Bourji Mourad, Head of Global Partner Management & Compliance at Envirotainer. “Our Singapore-based Global Partner Manager Paul Seet will be assisting Air China Cargo with the roll out of this agreement as well as managing the partnership between our two companies.”

As part of its continued network expansion, Envirotainer opened a new service station in Shanghai, China, in November 2015 to support growing cold chain business to the pharma supply chain. Envirotainer will continue to invest and open its network to ensure that its cold chain solutions are available globally. In the past year, the company has taken several steps to strengthen its position, including the opening of a new U.S. headquarters in New York and a new office in Singapore, a stronger product and service offering, and the increase of production and of its container fleet size to satisfy market demand.