Pharma cold chain shipper Tower Cold Chain has won the Queens Award for Enterprise, the highest accolade for business success, on the back of its crucial role in the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines throughout the pandemic.
The Reading-based business scooped the Queen’s Award for International Trade for outstanding short-term growth in export sales made over the last three years.
Tower's CEO Niall Balfour, said: “We are tremendously proud to receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade, which is a tribute to the expertise and hard work of the entire Tower team.
“Recognising our international growth shows how we are focused on meeting our customers’ global supply chain needs and will continue to invest and collaborate to deliver this.”
The company was also recognised for its reusable thermal containers that transport temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical, life-science and biotech products. In particular, the launch of its KTM42D, for ultra-cold temperature critical pharmaceuticals, and the KTEvolution, a lightweight, manually handleable solution ideal for smaller shipments such as direct-to-patient and last-mile deliveries, helped to meet critical cold chain pharmaceutical needs throughout the Covid pandemic. Tower's patented technology meets strict pharmaceutical industry performance standards, providing a minimum of 120 hours temperature compliance in any environment, anywhere in the world.
The business continues to expand its global hub networks and international sales have increased significantly over the past 18 months, with particular success in the US, Germany, Belgium, South Africa and China.
Meanwhile, in the UK, staff numbers have doubled. The company has also opened a new 26,000 sq ft HQ in Theale, Reading, including an innovation centre where it will continue to develop the latest temperature-controlled shipping solutions.
Balfour added: “It is our vision to become the number one cold chain shipping facility of choice worldwide. Winning the prestigious Queen’s Award recognises this journey, acknowledges our customers’ trust, and above all marks the tremendous efforts of all our team at Tower. I would like to thank and congratulate every one of them for their contribution– this award is a real testament to their support and our continued international growth.”