Moving Pharma in Air Cargo Forward!
Health care logistics play a major role not just in air cargo but also in people’s daily lives on a global scale. Therefore, collaboration between all the different actors along the entire supply chain is essential to ensure an efficient and safe distribution of pharmaceutical products all over the world.
During the last few years, cargo business proved its worth with the rapid transport of valuable goods, pharmaceuticals, and other important medical supplies – especially in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are multiple factors that need to be taken into account when it comes to temperature sensitive pharma shipments. Timing, product safety, connectivity, and organization of intermodal transport routes need to be aligned in order to maintain a stable cargo process chain for these sensible and perishable goods.
Recently, BARIG participated in the Pharma Day organized by LATAM Cargo, where freight forwarders and airliners had the opportunity to exchange their experiences in pharma operations. In the conference room, Jorge Carretero, BARIG Air Cargo & Logistics Committee Chairman and Sales Director Central Europe at LATAM Cargo, opened the program with the words: “Learn, listen, and share knowledge!” Experts covered topics such as pharma services in air cargo, innovative start-up technologies, as well as airport facilities and infrastructure, especially at Frankfurt Airport which is the biggest pharma hub in Europe with the world’s largest temperature-controlled infrastructure at an airport and many CEIV-certified* airlines, handling agents, and service providers.
We gained many interesting insights into the pharma business and, subsequent to the exchange of knowledge in the conference room, we moved on to an airside tour at Frankfurt Airport. At first, we visited the warehouse facilities of cargo handling service provider Celebi and learned first-hand more about the arrangement of containers and palletizing. Then, outside on the apron, we got a closer look at a LATAM Cargo freighter and its loading process.
*Center of Excellence of Independent Validators (CEIV) pharma certification, granted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Impressions of the event and airside tour:
