Supply chain & logistics
Transporting hope to South America
LATAM Cargo has transported more than 370 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to South America from Europe, North America, and Asia, including the domestic distribution in its home markets. The distribution process of these life-saving vaccines has provided the company with invaluable lessons to continue supporting its region.
ATAM Cargo’s business approach is primarily driven by a client-focused and long-term sustainability strategy, placing the client at the forefront of its decision-making, paired with the development of its ecosystems and communities. As the Covid-19 pandemic rages on around the region, causing tremendous turmoil in the air cargo industry, LATAM Cargo reacted promptly and adapted its network to remain present in its clients’ key lanes and mitigate the vast reduction in belly capacity that was experienced. At the same time that these capacities were drastically reduced and itineraries adjusted, temperature controlled shipments more than doubled in volume, creating challenging scenarios that the company successfully surpassed. In the midst of the pandemic, with temperature-controlled capabilities being stretched to their limits, the company remained committed to finding efficient solutions for its clients’ needs. With limited bellies available and increasing air freight demand, LATAM Cargo started transporting pharmaceuticals in routes with stopovers in stations approved for PHARMA handling. Without jeopardising the required cold chain that the life- saving medication needed, the team relied on their scalable and robust PHARMA processes to satisfy the increase in demand.
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The company adjusted many route offerings to accommodate the unpredictable and constant restriction changes within the different markets where it operates. At the same time, the team worked tirelessly to expand its PHARMA network which, combined with the addition of the stopovers, provided a greater number of destinations to LATAM Cargo clients. In 2020 and 2021, 13 new
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PHARMA stations were opened globally to further LATAM’s commitment to supporting the region’s communities, and amounting to a 45% increase of the PHARMA network.
Expert solutions LATAM Cargo’s commitment to supporting the region was shown by its free distribution of the Covid-19 vaccines in all domestic home markets, in addition to offering knowledge and expertise across the sector. This contribution aligns with the recently unveiled sustainability strategy, where the communities of South America are assisted in health and well- being matters at no cost. To this date, the company’s Solidarity Plane has transported more than 230 million doses of the vaccine in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru.
Succeeding in what many called the “challenge of the century”, referring to the Covid-19 vaccine distribution, can be greatly attributed to LATAM Cargo’s strong relationship with various participants in the pharmaceutical supply chain. It worked together with Envirotainer in creating innovative pop- up drop off stations in Chile and Brazil to provide clients with a solution to move vaccines in Active Containers to a region with no service stations present. The amount of coordination needed to transport these sensitive shipments provided an opportunity for the key stakeholders in the supply chain to work closely together, with proactive communication and information sharing – navigating the challenges together to give hope and health to the region. With long transit times for transporting the vaccines to remote destinations, the company had to make sure its processes,
facilities and personnel were capable of handling the elevated volumes of dry-ice that many of the shipments needed to preserve their integrity and effectiveness. Understanding the dry-ice sublimation rates and the potential impact on the optimisation of its aircrafts was paramount in maintaining the safety guidelines and high-quality standards within LATAM operations.
Lessons from the frontline The experience gained during the transportation of Covid-19 vaccines, combined with the company’s growing Pharma network and CEIV Pharma certified products, positions it in a strong position to face new challenges that the transportation of pharmaceuticals may bring after the pandemic. The creation of the LATAM Cargo Control Tower, a dedicated team that provides around-the-clock monitoring of all Covid vaccine shipments and proactively relays critical information to the clients, aligns with the stricter processes and standards that will become the norm in the post-pandemic world as the demand for transportation of pharmaceuticals will continue to increase. On a corporate level, LATAM Cargo has received and started operating the first of ten Boeing 767-300 Converted Freighters that will be added to its fleet progressively by the end of 2023, totalling up to 21 cargo aircrafts for the group. This capacity growth will push the company forward to establish itself as the main cargo group in South America, and will allow it to continue to fulfil clients’ temperature-controlled needs with an ampler and robust network. ●
www.latamcargo.com World Pharmaceutical Frontiers /
www.worldpharmaceuticals.net
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