Umbilical cord blood from Sicily to Switzerland – extremely time-critical due to the “freshness-sensitive” nature of the cargo

Many doctors and scientists recommend that expectant parents have their child’s umbilical cord blood preserved and stored for later use, since this particular blood contains valuable stem cells, which may one day be used to treat a range of medical conditions. If the child for example comes down with leukemia or another life-threatening disease, the umbilical cord blood stem cells can be used as “therapeutic life-savers.”

As potential life-preserving “biological life insurance” for the newborn, the blood of the umbilical cord must be professionally preserved immediately after the birth; then it can be stored at an umbilical cord blood bank. There are several such blood banks in Europe, one of which is based in Manno, a municipality in Southern Switzerland that is near Lugano and is therefore located directly on the border to Italy. Especially parents from Italy store their newborns’ umbilical cord blood here.

Transporting the blood from different regions of Italy to Manno requires smooth logistics processes – these transports are extremely time-critical for reasons of freshness: a maximum of 48 hours is allowed pass between collection of the umbilical cord blood and freezing (“cryopreservation”). The blood bank in Southern Switzerland usually works together with a large European express service provider when it comes to transport logistics. Their service is, however, not available on weekends, which is when time:matters is called upon. time:matters, the special service provider for sameday, courier and emergency logistics which is part of the Lufthansa Group, was recently faced with quite a tricky situation:

The child, whose umbilical cord blood was supposed to be stored, was born on Friday morning July 11, in the Sicilian city of Agrigento, around 130 kilometers away from the island’s capital, Palermo. Some time prior to birth the parents had placed the storage order with the blood bank, which also included on-site collection of the blood. Thus, the clinic’s call reached the logistics experts at the time:matters’ branch office in Zurich on that particular Friday, early in the afternoon. From there a courier, who had already been placed on call by the German time:matters headquarters, received the anticipated “go!” and immediately departed for Sicily. The original plan was for the courier to fly from Frankfurt to Milan at 18:40 and then catch the flight to Palermo at the Linate Airport at 21:20. Collection of the container with the blood was scheduled for around 2:00 at night at the clinic in Agrigento, so that handover of the shipment could take place the following afternoon at the blood bank in Manno.

However, as the word “original” already indicates, things did not go as planned: the 18:40 flight was cancelled due to technical problems with the plane – without an alternative flight – subsequently the time:matters office in Zurich had to work out an entirely new route as quickly as possible. No sooner said than done: the time:matters courier departed from Frankfurt at 20:55 on a plane headed towards Milan Linate, where he landed shortly after 22:00 and spent the night. On Saturday, the next morning, he took the next possible connecting flight to Sicily that departed at 6:55. Right after landing in Palermo at 8:35, the courier took a two-hour taxi ride to the hospital in Agrigento, where the cooler with the valuable cargo was handed over to him. At 15:15 he was already on a plane bound for Milan. The courier landed at Linate Airport at 16:55 and immediately made his way to the umbilical cord blood laboratory in Manno and handed over the container with the blood at precisely 18:00.

Thanks to the flexibility of the time:matters’ service, the possibly life-saving cargo arrived in Manno merely four hours later than originally planned – despite the fact that the flight was cancelled.