More-frequent freighters keep Malta moving


30


Issue 3 2012


manufacturers specialise in what


are known as ‘generic’


pharmaceuticals – those that are no longer covered by a patent limiting their manufacture to the firm that first developed the drug. What happens is that when a particular drug is about to go off-patent in a particular market, the generic manufacturers ramp up their production in readiness for the day when they can sell their cheaper version in the market concerned. From Malta, they will usually send sealed consignments to a mainland EU country where the drug concerned is already patent-free (drugs tend to come off patent in various countries on different dates), where it can be held until the day that the patent expires in the target market. Such mass movements of


pharmaceuticals from Malta tend to be by truck, says Ray Borg, as the cost of shiſting perhaps 1,100 pallets by air – for one product alone - would be prohibitive. Launching generic drugs


The introduction of a regular freighter from Malta to Europe in April has been a revelation for the local freight market, says Ray Borg, sales and commercial manager at BAS, the local representative of DHL Global Forwarding. DHL is now running a Tuesday to Friday freighter from Malta to Brussels (on Monday it operates to Marseilles and Leipzig) which has brought a degree of continuity to a market that was hitherto heavily dependent on scarce passenger bellyhold capacity or the weekend-only


270 x 90mm.ai 1 19/05/2011


freighters operated by Air Malta and Luſthansa. While initially there was some scepticism locally that a weekly freighter could be viable, the new service has gone down well. Existing third-party flights geared mainly to the courier segment were getting very full, especially with the upsurge in internet traffic and offloads were becoming more frequent – to the extent that some of the major online retailers put their foot down and demanded an improvement. This prompted Deutsche Post/DHL to start up


14:41


their own regular service. His


colleague, BAS general


manager Ray Buttigieg says: “It allows palletised exports – especially pharmaceuticals – to move during the week and there has been quite a big increase in exports, especially to mainland Europe and, to some extent, the US.”


Other useful capacity is


provided by Emirates with its wide body passenger flights to Dubai, as well as Air Malta with its passenger flights to the main European hubs and the now Sunday-only


Luſthansa 757 freighter. DHL and BAS have been


increasing their links with the local pharmaceutical, life-science and healthcare industry, recently making a major presentation on 6 March. “They have very demanding standards and there are more regulations and restrictions,” explains Ray Borg. Urgent shipments move on


DHL’s air express services but large volumes have to go by truck. Pharmaceuticals are not oſten thought of as a high-volume product, but the Maltese-based


is becoming big business on Malta, particularly so as several drugs are due to come off-patent this year. Moreover, several big drug firms have recently set up manufacturing operations on the island and more are expected to follow, including some very high- volume operations capable of producing billions of drugs a year. Malta can also be used as a transhipment point for pharmaceuticals made in India, shipped in by container and then distributed into Europe by trailer. The trailers used are RFID-


equipped and can continuously monitor the temperature in transit. Despite the upsurge in business, there is no sign of transport capacity out of Malta being overstretched, says Ray Buttigieg. Road operators are investing in double-deck trailers.


///MALTA Besides pharma, aerospace is


important business for BAS. “We’ve doubled the number of shipments per month, though there’s


still


room for improvement.” Medavia, which used to hire out aircraſt to ferry oilfield workers around Libya, has restarted operations while the Luſthansa Technik business is growing. “Aerospace isn’t big in volume, but we do have a special department dealing with it, seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” says Ray Buttigieg.


“


We’ve doubled the number of shipments per month, though there’s still room for improvement”


Semiconductor traffic out of


Malta has dropped off, mainly because the tsunami has disrupted the Japanese car manufacturers, who were major consumers of Maltese-made components, but there are hopes for a recovery in the summer. The major manufacturers have retained a presence on Malta even though production is well down from its potential. DHL Global Forwarding is also


looking at new service options to and from Malta, including a possible air-road service that would use the freighter to Brussels and truck thereaſter. It would get consignments flown from Malta on a Monday or Tuesday to destination in Europe by Friday at the latest and could be a useful halfway-house between pure air and pure road, in terms of time and price. DHL also offers an LCL


seafreight option via Antwerp with a direct weekly connection to and from Malta.


C M Y CM MY CY CMY K


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