Producer
CRYOLOR (Air Liquide Engineering & Construction)
French cryogenic equipment manufacturer (HQ Laon, Aisne; Air Liquide Engineering & Construction subsidiary); designs and manufactures vacuum-insulated ISO tank containers, semi-trailers, and storage vessels for liquid helium, liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen, and LNG transport. CRYOLOR is one of only two major manufacturers (alongside Chart Industries) of the large ISO bulk containers used to transport liquid helium from production sites in Wyoming, Qatar, and Algeria to end users globally. A liquid helium ISO container (40,000 liter capacity; maintains -269°C with multi-layer superinsulation and vacuum jacket) can carry enough helium to serve a major hospital MRI cooling program for 6-12 months. CRYOLOR also manufactures the specialized tank trailers that deliver liquid helium from distribution hubs to hospitals and semiconductor fabs. Air Liquide's ownership of CRYOLOR gives the industrial gas company a captive advantage in cryogenic container logistics.
2
Inputs supplied
1
Goods downstream
0
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
2 inputs CRYOLOR (Air Liquide Engineering & Construction) supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something CRYOLOR (Air Liquide Engineering & Construction) makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Liquid Helium Transport Equipment
35%LNG Transport Equipment
30%Industrial Cryogenic Equipment
25%Cryogenic Storage & Installations
10%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2024
CRYOLOR's Laon factory simultaneously produces ISO tank containers for two supply chains with almost nothing in common: (1) liquid helium transport for the medical imaging and semiconductor supply chains (a hospital MRI cryogenic maintenance program and a semiconductor fab's superconducting magnet supply both depend on CRYOLOR helium containers), and (2) LNG (liquefied natural gas) transport for the energy sector (small-scale LNG road distribution, LNG fueling for heavy trucks, LNG storage at industrial facilities). The cryogenic insulation engineering that maintains helium at -269°C in a road tanker is adapted — with different materials and temperature targets — to maintain LNG at -162°C in the same product family. A single northern French manufacturer sits simultaneously in the helium supply chain for hospitals and chip fabs and the LNG supply chain for energy infrastructure, applying the same vacuum-superinsulation physics to radically different temperature regimes and end markets.
CRYOLOR (Air Liquide E&C) ↗Origin2023
CRYOLOR was established in Laon, Aisne (northern France) as a cryogenic equipment specialist and became an Air Liquide Engineering & Construction subsidiary as Air Liquide systematically acquired control of the equipment supply chain for its gas distribution operations. Air Liquide's ownership of CRYOLOR gives it a vertically integrated position in liquid helium logistics: Air Liquide extracts/sources helium globally, liquefies it, and distributes it using containers manufactured by its own subsidiary CRYOLOR — reducing dependence on third-party tank manufacturers (primarily Chart Industries, the dominant US cryogenic equipment maker) for its critical helium logistics. CRYOLOR's Laon facility produces ISO tanks meeting both ADR (European road) and IATA/IMO (international transport) standards, enabling global deployment of helium containers from a single French manufacturing base.
Air Liquide S.A. ↗