Linde India partners with Tata, ITC to augment supply of medical oxygen containers

To be used to pick up medical oxygen from various manufacturing facilities and deliver it to hospitals where required

The 24 cryogenic containers for carriage of medical oxygen secured by Linde India in partnership with Tata group from international sources have reportedly arrived by airways to Eastern part of India, from where Linde would be transporting them to their liquid oxygen manufacturing facility.

As per a company note, at the Linde facility, these cryogenic ISO containers, would be conditioned and certified for liquid medical oxygen usage.

Each of these containers, which can carry up to 20 tons of liquid O2 – will be used by Linde to pick-up oxygen from various manufacturing facilities and deliver it to hospitals where required. These ISO containers can also act as interim oxygen storages in remote areas which are facing oxygen scarcity, as per the release.

Similarly, ITC has tied up with Linde India to airfreight 24 cryogenic ISO containers of 20 tons each from Asian countries for use by them to transport medical oxygen across the country. In addition, ITC is airlifting large numbers of oxygen concentrators for distribution. Its paperboards unit in Bhadrachalam has commenced supply of oxygen to neighbouring areas. As per a separate release, ITC will continue to explore other avenues to help address the challenges emerging during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

This is part of Linde India’s efforts, in partnership with corporates like the Tata Group and ITC, and Government of India (GoI),  to augment the availability of liquid medical oxygen across the country, as India’s second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to escalate rapidly, putting existing supply chains under enormous pressure to meet the huge demand, especially to the most impacted parts of the nation.

Other previous such initiatives include partnering with GoI to airlift cryogenic road tankers from Delhi for filling liquid oxygen at Linde’s oxygen plant in Durgapur and get the much-needed medical oxygen to Delhi, as well as working with Indian Railways to ferry empty tankers on the ‘Oxygen Express’ from Kalamboli, Maharashtra to Vizag, Andhra Pradesh where the tankers will be filled with liquid oxygen and sent back to Maharashtra.