COOL CHAIN\\\


The IAG Cargo team has been working “tremendously hard” to ensure that the carrier is ready to move vaccines through its specialist facilities, says chief commercial officer, John Cheetham. “We are world leaders in


transporting pharmaceuticals across the globe and have years of experience moving vaccines,” he added. “IAG Cargo’s Constant Climate offer means that we have an expert capability in facilitating the special conditions required for transporting products such as pharmaceutical, bio-science and healthcare products; and our ‘Critical’ shipping capability ensures we are always ready for


those emergency shipments that require additional speed.” IAG Cargo operates three


specialist hubs at Heathrow, Dublin and Madrid and a network of over 100 approved stations worldwide, supported by expert teams who are trained to maintain the purity, potency and stability of life-saving medicines. Cheetham points out: “Our


hub at London Heathrow remains the only air carrier airside facility to be GDP certified and WDA licensed by a national competent authority – the UK’s Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Our hub in Dublin is also certified


under the Irish Exporters Association (GDP Passport programme and the Madrid hub boasts over 900sq m of space for processing temperature- sensitive pharmaceutical products. “Our state-of-the-art product


is designed for precision management of time-sensitive and cold chain pharmaceutical products, and currently plays a vital role in the distribution of vaccines in normal times. IAG Cargo is in an excellent position to work with vaccine manufacturers and other logistics providers to ensure the safe and effective transportation of all pharmaceutical products.”


Issue 8 2020 - Freight Business Journal


IAG team poised for action makes back-up plans Dutch gateway IAG Cargo has access to the


five airlines in the IAG network and by the end of the third quarter of the year was operating more than 3,000 cargo flights per week and constantly expanding its network. Moreover: “IAG Cargo has


demonstrated its flexibility to quickly setting up charter and cargo only flights to provide the best service to its customers. In addition to our charter and cargo only offering, we have reconfigured


several of the


British Airways and Iberia fleet removing their seats to create extra capacity for cargo. Our extensive fleet will be sufficient to meet vaccine demand.”


Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is considering creating mobile cooling capacity at the apron or adjacent to the airside as part of its planning for the expect upliſt in Covid vaccines in late 2020 or in 2021. These could be temporary freezers or reefer trucks, says Schiphol Cargo director of business development Ferry van der Ent. Plans were in the process of


being finalised over the next few weeks, he said. Schiphol is also working with


Kuehne and Nagel is prepared for the future distribution demands of Covid-19 vaccines, treatments, test kits and supporting materials, says senior vice president, pharma and healthcare strategy, Robert Coyle. He explains: “The Kuehne+Nagel


pharma and healthcare vertical and QuickStat (Kuehne+Nagel’s clinical trial team) are ready to do their part in bringing a Covid-19 vaccine successfully to market, to ensure vaccine supply while protecting our current customer needs.” But, at the time of writing in early


November, it was still unclear what the transport requirements for any vaccine would be. Nobody is certain what temperature it should


be transported at or how stable it may be. Nor is it certain where vaccines would be produced, their origins, destinations and warehousing requirements.


Brexit plans still unclear, say produce traders


The inspection regime for food products moving between the UK and European Union aſter the end of Brexit transition on 31 December remains a concern, says Fresh Produce Consortium chief executive, Nigel Jenney. Addressing the Multimodal Multimodal Brexit Tactics webinar on 5 November, he said that, with less than two months to go before the end of December, Government was still changing requirements for food imports and exports. Fresh produce exporters from


the UK to the EU will have to provide a range of documentation including Certificates of Conformity or phytosanitary (plant health) certificates which, in total, would equate to 2 million


extra pieces of paper a year. Moreover, while the UK has hitherto relied on EU electronic systems for the movement of fresh produce, these were to be replaced on 1 January by an as yet unseen UK system. There were also concerns about


inspection of groupage fresh produce shipments. He said: “While the changes


are being introduced in a phased approach, we still do have serious concerns. There is a lot to be done and very little time in which to do it.”


However, he added: “I don’t


think there will be shortages of food as a result. The industry is working extremely hard, and we’re committed to feeding the nation.”


Pharma companies


were already approaching Kuehne+Nagel, said Coyle. “These storage requests are for a range of


deep frozen (-60°C to -80°C), frozen (-20°C) and 2-8°C). Kuehne+Nagel is preparing to cater for the incoming demand and working together with our customers to understand the volume and special requirements for each vaccine. Customers are already in contact and signing agreements to check solutions for future demand, demonstrating their preparedness to pre-empt the hurdle of the global distribution of the vaccine.” Coyle predicts that the ramp- up will last several months, even years. However: “We feel comfortable


that temperatures, for capacity at our current


pharma and healthcare network can support this volume, in addition to our current customer


stakeholders and government agencies such as customs on a fast track process to create facilities in line with pharma industry Good Distribution Practice (GDP) guidelines when market demand exceeds normal pharma handling capabilities. Over 100,000sq m of cooling capacity is already available for


such a scenario. These


are existing certified facilities from the Netherlands’ many companies


that in normal


circumstances focus on ocean or road transport. Meanwhile, Schiphol is working in collaboration with the


demand.” He anticipates that air and road


will be the main transport modes for the first Covid-19 vaccines: road freight for domestic and in-continent distribution, and air freight for intercontinental moves, adding: “From our market review and industry assumptions,


air cargo community to consider different scenarios for the transportation of the vaccines in the cool chain such as the different temperature ranges and the possible aircraſt capacities, the available of ground storage, road activities and support from other Netherlands airports as fall back scenarios. Also under scrutiny is the


quality and speed in the supply chain for imports or exports - with the help of customs- and the possibilities for rapid handling at airside or on the tarmac. Schiphol is also considering whether extra capacity can be made available. Schiphol is already a major


hub for temperature controlled foodstuffs as well as pharma, and it envisages that this will continue while the vaccine airliſt is going on. Food too is an essential commodity. Any new facilities that have


been recently added such as those by DHL, UPS and Rutges will not be dismantled aſter the vaccine airliſt. Pharma is already a bull market due to both increased world population and rising global incomes.


we see a cumulative need for vaccine related air capacity at about 1% of 2019 capacity. This demand should be covered by the normal demand and supply fluctuations within both air and road logistics; however, there could be constraints on certain lanes at critical times.”


Oakland adds Dublin space ahead of Brexit


Retail supply chain specialist Oakland International is to increase capacity at its Dublin site by over 60% by January 2021 in preparation for Brexit. It will be the second major expansion in Ireland for Oakland – the company moved its Irish operation to the Food Central site close to Dublin airport and the port tunnel in 2018. The latest move will increase


capacity from 30,000sq ft to 50,000sq ft, servicing all major Irish retailers. Oakland International


director Richard Hill added: “We’ll also be responsible for the building of a total of 80,000sq ft warehouse in Food Central, all thanks to the hard


coming year. Hill added: “Consolidating product


customer into all


work of our team and their desire to provide a premium service to support suppliers and Irish retailers.” Oakland is also planning to add a further 30,000sq ft to its


collaborative partnership with Agro Merchants, as it prepares for significant expansion of its chilled and frozen supply chain consolidation operations for the whole of Ireland over the


major retailers, we’re able to help and support those who wish to act for themselves, with Oakland ideally located both close to retailers and to the port for imported goods; 2021 provides challenge, but also great opportunity.” Oakland International is a B2C/B2B specialist in contract packing, storage, picking, food distribution and brand development support provider for ambient, chilled and frozen food to the retail, convenience, discount, wholesale and food service markets in the UK, Ireland and through its partner in Spain.


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