18


Issue 3 2020 - Freight Business Journal


///PHARMA In the eye of the storm


Never has the movement of pharmaceutical goods around the world been so much in the spotlight. And its importance is only set to grow still further as the world battles the COVID-19 virus.


The COVID-19 situation is changing from day to day, but the immediate effect at the time of writing in late March was a drastic curb on passenger travel to contain the spreading of the virus as far as possible, says Chris Dehio (pictured), senior product and quality manager for temperature sensitive logistics at Lufthansa Cargo. He


explains the thinking:


“The less people physically interact, the fewer people will become infected and healthcare systems around the world will be in a better position to care for the needy. However, with fewer passengers, flight schedules are being thinned and belly capacity is no longer available. This lack of belly capacity cannot be compensated with freighters alone. At Lufthansa Cargo we are exploring options to use passenger aircraft to supplement our freighter capacity.” At that time, demand was


exceeding capacity, but how the situation will develop is difficult to answer. One thing however is for sure: at some point, somewhere in the world a cure will be developed and approved. The requirement


then for fast and reliable transportation will surely surge, says Dehio. Lufthansa’s Active Temp and


Control Passive Temp


Support products had been seeing continued stable growth and Dehio also believes that


the transportation pharmaceuticals by air of will


continue to grow on a stable basis. “It will vary some years but we are not expecting to see a year with no growth. Pharmaceuticals are becoming more and more affordable and demand for medication, in particular in the emerging markets, continues to rise, so will the demand for fast, secure and reliable transportation. This is why Lufthansa Cargo is further planning to invest in its infrastructure.” Besides the Lufthansa Cargo


Cool Center in Frankfurt, an additional Pharma Center in Chicago is under construction. At a very general level,


one might say that the markets where generic pharmaceuticals are produced have


stronger growth (for


example India or China) than those that produce original pharmaceuticals. There is also a move towards personalized- medication or precision-


medication (particularly in oncology) but that area currently involves very small volumes and a high degree of monitoring. It remains to be seen if this is a trend that only involves “the last mile” or if larger volumes will be produced on commission in low cost countries that would then require fast, secure and safe transportation. From a carrier point of view


Lufthansa is more interested in markets that produce large pharma volumes.


Ray of hope as vaccine tests set to start in September


There has been strong growth in the pharmaceutical sector due to the coronavirus outbreak, reports Paul Huang, Asia vice- president sales for freight forwarder, Tigers. China is the world largest


manufacturer of medical masks and protection suits. In the first phase, when the


outbreak was confined to China just before the Lunar New Year and when most factories were closed, there was a strong flow of medical masks from US, EU, and other APAC countries into China.


In the second phase of


the outbreak, with the virus spreading to other parts of the


world, the reopening of China’s factories and the rapid setting up of new production lines for mask and protection suits saw a strong reverse flow take place from the beginning of March. This will get stronger in the next few months; adding to this flow outbound from China is the need for the detection kit for


It is important however


to point out that the pharmaceutical industry is not a homogeneous industry but that individual companies have particular needs that vary considerably, depending on the type of medication, import and export requirements. Air carriers generally have


technology solutions for every type of requirement. For any carrier it is probably a


significant challenge to ensure that


the ground operations adhere to strict quality


indicators and are consistent at all destinations, says Dehio who adds: “You need a very robust quality management system in place which will ensure that the quality needs of the customer are met.” The next big step will be seamless, real-time transmission of data which can show the exact state of the shipment. Today, technology is available to register various parameters such as temperature, humidity or battery level but the challenge is to get this data in real time and distribute it to a specific customer. There are certification, communication and reliability issues that first need to be considered before a concept can be put into service. It might be straightforward for a single shipment, but the challenges come with the magnitude of several thousand daily shipments underway in a truly global network. Lufthansa Cargo is working closely with all major suppliers of containers to achieve this goal and is already testing some Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. Lufthansa Cargo has a strict


continuous improvement program, Dehio says: “With the CEIV certification program we have the opportunity to confirm our processes and quality management systems through independent certifiers which helps the pharmaceutical industry to


the virus. In the meantime, since the


middle of March, China started clinical trials of the first vaccine for the virus, expected to be deliverable by September. A strong flow is expected by the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter. Huang adds: “During last two


months, two Chinese medicine formulae were widely used on 90% of the 80,000 COVID 19 patients, and it achieved a very good result; most countries are trying to learn from China’s


reduce their need for auditing of their suppliers as required by the GDP. Since the CEIV certification includes all parts of the GDP relevant to air carriers, we have decided to discontinue the GDP certification and remain with the CEIV program. We are in the process of continuously adding CEIV certified stations to our network as it also helps to focus our entire operations on the requirements for reliable transportation of pharmaceuticals. Currently we have 29 stations that are certified and that number is growing.”


Air will always have an


important role to play in pharma. Because of the high level of security and short transit times needed, pharma firms are more confident about flying their valuable goods rather than using surface transportation. Sometimes, also goods


cannot be insured in such large quantities that would fill an ocean reefer. “So, yes, ocean


transportation is a competitor that the air carriers take seriously. But an air carrier will never be able to compete with the rates that ocean freight can offer and again here the producers of pharmaceuticals – as heterogeneous as they are – have different strategies. In particular in times of crises there is often not time to use surface transportation.”


experience to how to fight with this virus.” As a result, medicine exports out of China are expected to increase. Meanwhile, over 70% of


international passenger flights in the region have been cancelled, along with over 30% of ocean sailings. Air freight, mostly by


freighters, is now the main transport mode for emergency supplies to combat the virus. The China-EU rail service is also growing by over 30% year on year and has become a key link.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20