How Indian pharma handles freight, container, air vs sea, APIs, temp excursion challenges

Pharmaceutical supply chains have changed dramatically over the past two decades. What was once driven largely by cost, lean inventory, and just-in-time thinking is now being reshaped by geopolitical disruption, technology, changing therapies and the need for resilience.

In this Leaders Speak episode with Libin Chacko Kurian, Arloph John Vieira, Head of Supply Chain Management at Milan Laboratories, reflects on more than three decades in the pharmaceutical industry and explains why the old supply-chain playbook is changing. “Today we’re talking of a different type of supply chain. We’re talking of a resilient supply chain. We’re talking of a just-in-case type of scenario,” he says.

Vieira discusses one of Indian pharma’s longstanding vulnerabilities, its dependence on imported APIs, while also looking at the impact of maritime disruption, longer shipping routes, rising freight rates and container availability. His response is practical: companies need alternatives, whether that means working with multiple shipping lines, collaborating more closely with customers or reconsidering the economics of air freight.

For high-value pharmaceutical products, he argues that freight cost alone can give an incomplete picture. “If you look in totality, sometimes air is an option,” he says, pointing to shorter transit times, lower inventory carrying costs and faster realisation of revenue.

The conversation then turns to the next big logistics challenge: biologics, biosimilars, vaccines and other advanced therapies. As India looks towards a larger biopharma industry, Vieira says the country will need cold-chain capabilities that extend beyond Tier 1 cities and beyond the familiar 2–8°C range.

From resilience and technology to air versus sea and the infrastructure needed for next-generation medicines, the conversation explores what the changing pharmaceutical industry will demand from its supply chains.