› Competitors UPS, FedEx work together on distribution,

UPS and FedEx usually compete fiercely for business. Now, the rivals are working closely together to ship the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, the first of the vaccines to win U.S. government approval.

The two shipping companies said they have put the plans they have been working on for months into action after the Food and Drug Administration gave the vaccine emergency authorization late Friday.

In a statement Saturday, UPS said it would transport doses of the vaccine from storage sites in Michigan and Wisconsin to its air cargo hub in Louisville, Kentucky. From there, the doses will be distributed to hospitals and other medical facilities across the country using its Next Day Air service, arriving the day after leaving the Pfizer facilities.

“This is the moment of truth we’ve been waiting for,” Wes Wheeler, president of the company’s health care division, said in a statement. “The time has arrived to put the plan into action.”

Even before the vaccine was approved, UPS had started shipping out kits with the medical supplies needed to administer it, such as alcohol wipes and syringes, Wheeler told a Senate subcommittee.

UPS and FedEx will split distribution of the vaccine throughout the country, he said. After those shipments arrive, all Pfizer dosing sites will receive another shipment from UPS of 40 pounds of extra dry ice to keep the vaccines at a frigid temperature.

“You have two fierce rivals here, and competitors, in FedEx and UPS, who literally are teaming up to get this delivered,” Richard Smith, a FedEx executive, told the Senate’s Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety on Thursday.

Both companies said the shipments will be closely tracked and monitored and will be given priority over other packages. To ship its vaccine, Pfizer designed specialized containers packed with enough dry ice to keep a minimum of 975 doses cool for up to 10 days.

Shippers have spent months upgrading cold storage infrastructure for the Pfizer vaccine, which must be stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. UPS, for example, has been installing ultralow-temperature freezer farms that are able to keep goods as cold as minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit near its air cargo hubs in the United States and Europe. It also plans to produce more than 24,000 pounds of dry ice per day at its hub in Louisville. FedEx has added ultracold freezers throughout its U.S. network, too.