As pharmaceutical manufacturers develop more specialised and personalised drugs, the air cargo industry and their logistics partners are right behind them with prescriptions to ensure that the health of those critical shipments are maintained. Right from developing specialised products for pharmaceutical transportation to getting origin to destination certified pharma lanes so that cargo moves under a certified service from handover by the shipper to delivery to the consignee, standardisation has come a long way.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) introduced separate regulations for health-care logistics, commonly referred to as Chapter 17 of the IATA Perishable Cargo Regulations, after one its authors stated, “Bananas and Botox, although both perishable, have vastly different handling requirements; just as the results of mishandling of either, or both, have vastly different consequences.”
Since then, many airlines have responded to shippers’ needs and in a bid to cater to specialized cargo requirements, air cargo players across the globe are upping the ante on improving their capabilities in pharmaceutical transportation.
For instance, Qatar Airways Cargo has been making continuous investments in product development since the launch of QR Pharma in January 2014. The cargo carrier is also nearing completion of its state-of-the-art ‘Climate Control Centre’ at Hamad International Airport. This transit facility for pharmaceuticals, situated on the airside, is commissioned to be ready in early 2017.
In September 2016, Emirates SkyCargo built a new facility dedicated exclusively to the timely and secure transport of temperature sensitive pharmaceutical shipments at Dubai International Airport (DXB). Furthermore, the carrier launched White Cover Advanced, a next generation version of its innovative protection product for valuable temperature sensitive cargo. White Cover Advanced utilises a patented material from DuPont to form a tough protective barrier against varying external temperatures and direct sunlight.
Emirates SkyCargo’s product development team also invented a new temperature controlled container which has been named “White Container”. It is coated on the inside with thermal Insulators to counteract high temperatures in Dubai and help preserve temperature-sensitive cargo, including fruits and vegetables as well as pharmaceuticals.
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Esta historia es de la edición February 2017 de The Stat Trade Times.
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