Emirates SkyPharma is working to woo the Indian pharma industry to opt for its cargo facilities at two locations. These are the freighter hub at Dubai World Central and its hub for cargo coming in on passenger flights at Dubai International Airport.
The airline major has built a facility at Dubai International Airport where for temperature sensitive pharmaceutical shipments it ensures controlled environments to avoid cross-contamination. Certified for EU Good Distribution Practices (GDP) from Bureau Veritas Germany, the company has a technical team to ensure adherence to international procedures.
“India is an important market for the manufacture and export of pharmaceutical products. Emirates SkyCargo works closely with customers in the Indian market to ensure timely and secure transport of their products to various destinations across our global network of over 150 destinations through our cargo hub in Dubai,” Bert Allard Jorritsma, manager, Special Cargo Service Delivery, Emirates SkyPharma told Pharmabiz.
The facility covers around 8,600 square metres of combined handling space between the two terminals dedicated to handling pharmaceutical products. These are connected by a bonded and secured temperature controlled road feeder service. It has temperature controlled zones of 2-8 degree Celsius and 15-25 degree Celsius. The 88 temperature controlled individual positions for the same temperature ranges in the automated ULD (aircraft pallet) handling system and 7 including the internal hub connection docks temperature controlled acceptance and delivery truck docks makes the pharma cargo safe.
The airline company said all these efforts minimise risk of contamination of medicinal products with other kind of products such as perishables. Additionally the medicinal products are stored in locations that are access controlled and monitored 24/7 by CCTV. This removes the risk of counterfeited products entering the supply during transport.
“In 2015, we shipped close to 11,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical products across our network through our hub in Dubai. The top pharmaceutical products shipped include critical medication for diabetes and cancer, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), blood derivatives and vaccines”, he added.
“Its advanced cargo hub is supported by a modern fleet of over 245 wide body aircraft and a global network of over 150 destinations across 82 countries in six continents. “We service the Indian market with multiple flight frequencies to 9 Indian destinations including freighters. Emirates SkyCargo is a global facilitator of trade and we work with customers and stakeholders from the pharmaceutical industry across the world,” he said.
On its expansion plans, Jorritsma said that for pharmaceuticals it will progressively look at getting its constantly certified for Good Distribution Practices. “This will also create the SkyPharma quality standard to ensure customers access the end to end protection for pharmaceutical shipments,” he stated.