Shanghai and Luxembourg sign pharma deal

Two more airport operators have signed a deal to promote transport of temperature-sensitive pharma products between Europe and Asia at the Air Cargo China 2016 exhibition and conference.
Following yesterday’s deal between Swiss WorldCargo, Cargologic and SATS for a temperature-controlled, quality corridor between Singapore and Zurich, Luxembourg Airport operator lux-Airport and Eastern Air Logistics (EAL), one of the largest air cargo terminal operators at Shanghai Hongqiao and Pudong Airport, agreed on June 15 to promote similar traffic between their respective cities.
A new memorandum of understanding will promote the transportation of time- and temperature-sensitive medicinal products for human use, in accordance with the European Union and World Health Organization Good Distribution Practice (GDP) guidelines.
EAL and lux-Airport, with the support of their local partners, “will exercise their best efforts to maintain a fully GDP-secured end-to-end trade lane focused on the transportation of healthcare products between Luxembourg and Shanghai and ensure the quality and integrity of products on the ground and in the air.”
They will also educate businesses of the value of GDP-certified partners and verify that all participants in the transport chain monitor performance indicators and maintain a quality system.
Johan Vanneste, chief executive of lux-Airport, said it was the gateway’s second such agreement, commenting that he had noticed that “some other airports are now copying us.”
He added: “I am convinced this is a very interesting and unique development for shippers of valuable pharma shipments, and that it will stimulate traffic between Shanghai, the world’s third largest cargo airport, and Luxembourg.”
Jin Xu, vice president of EAL, said it was a significant step in the operator’s strategy “to build a global pharma hub and spoke system that embraces all key world markets.… By establishing such a fully GDP secured end-to-end trade lane for pharma and healthcare shipments, we shall stand together to provide more comprehensive, professional and reliable services to all our clients in this high-value market.”
Air Cargo News will be hosting its annual Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical conference in London on November 22 and 23, click here for more information.