The reefer container is the refrigerated container used in intermodal freight transport in the pharmaceutical industry. It is most widely used for transporting medicines, biological samples to be analyzed, vaccines, blood, and derivatives. The rise in international trade and easy navigation facilities, less terminal turnaround time, and growth prospects in overseas trading are some prominent factors attributed to the demand for reefer containers in the pharmaceutical industry, propelling the market growth. The rising preference for maritime trade over the airborne trading activities is anticipated to propel the market growth. As per the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates that roughly 80% of global trade by volume and 70% by value is transported by sea. Of that volume, 60% of maritime trade goes through Asia, with the South China Sea carrying an estimated one-third of global shipping.
BSL REFRIGERATED CONTAINERS, CMA CGM GROUP, KLINGE CORPORATION, DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD. and MAERSK CONTAINER INDUSTRY AS – Prominent Market Participants in Reefer Container for Pharmaceuticals Market
Also, China continues to be the biggest importer of raw materials by far given its important role in the global manufacturing supply chain, which is evident in the outbound container throughputs statistics of Chinese ports that pushed market freight rates upward throughout the year 2021. As per the survey conducted by the Peli BioThermal in the biopharmaceutical industry, more than 70% use sea transport for international shipping of temperature-controlled products, with one-third participants use it frequently. Thus, the growing seaborne trading for transporting pharmaceutical products is leveraging the need for reefer containers which is driving the market growth.
The demand for pharmaceutical products was increasing across the globe at faster rate, owing to increasing number of geriatric populations, growing spending in pharmaceutical products, changing lifestyle leading to obesity, diabetes, and other costly health conditions, and increasing investment in R&D capabilities. As per the recent UN study forecasted that the 65+ age group is set to rise from 9% to 16% globally by 2050, and 80+ age group is projected to triple. The incidence of diabetes patients and many other chronic diseases in particular is expected to accelerate in many developing markets and drive demand for pharmaceutical products. As per the International Diabetes Federation, approximately 537 million adults (20-79 years) are living with diabetes in 2021. Also, the total number of people living with diabetes is projected to rise to 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045. It is growing most rapidly in low- and middle-income countries. Thus, increasing number of patients and chronic diseases is emerging the need for the pharmaceutical products which is further strengthening the reefer containers for transportation and logistics which helps drive the market growth over the forecast period.
The increased demand for medicines and PPE due to COVID-19 and the need for a mega-logistics drive to distribute the COVID vaccine in temperatures as low as -70°C are driving cold chain players in the region to compete and expand. In addition, packaging and logistics are increasing for liquids (spirits, elixirs, and tinctures), ointments (creams, pastes, and jellies), and solids (pills, tablets, lozenges, and suppositories). The shipping sector in SAM has distinctive features evident in companies in this industry that are mostly privately owned, with small fleets and geographical coverage over not too great distances (mainly over short distances). For instance, According to UNCTAD, SAM account for only 0.39% of container transport capacity measured in TEU, of which the TEU capacity of the SAM and Caribbean sub-regions is 0.37% and 0.02% (in that order), respectively. Thus, abovementioned factors will drive the demand for reefer container for pharmaceutical market in SAM region.
The top five companies in the market includes BSL REFRIGERATED CONTAINERS, CMA CGM GROUP, KLINGE CORPORATION, DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD. and MAERSK CONTAINER INDUSTRY AS. The above listing of key players is derived by considering multiple factors such as overall revenue, current well completion equipment and services portfolio, new product launches, market initiatives, investment in technology up-gradation, mergers & acquisitions, and other joint activities. A few of the important market initiatives and product developments from the industry are mentioned below:
| Year | News | Country |
| 2022 | Maersk announced the termination of acquisition agreement with China International Marine Containers Ltd (CMIS) owing to regulatory compliances with transaction. The agreement was to divest the container segment by Maersk to CMIC. | Asia Pacific |
| 2022 | Ember Technologies and Cardinal Health partnered for providing self-refrigerated, cloud-based shipping box named Ember Cube. Both the companies are collaborating for delivering cold chain solution to facilitate the temperature-sensitive medicines transportation. | North America |
| 2022 | CMA CGM launched SMART reefer container. This smart reefer container has tracking capacities and are suitable for monitoring the position and status of the refrigerated goods. | APAC |
