Air Cargo Community Frankfurt launches new initiatives

Sep 24, 2015: With a whole series of initiatives, the Air Cargo Community Frankfurt is currently approaching the international pharmaceutical industry in Germany. The objective of the numerous discussions and consultations is to work together to develop new ideas and concrete innovations aimed at allowing pharmaceutical shipments to be handled even faster and more efficiently via Frankfurt Airport. The programme opened with the “Air Cargo Community Frankfurt meets Pharma” Forum. At this intensive exchange at which, in addition to representatives of pharmaceutical companies, the Regional Council of Darmstadt also participated as an important public authority, there was a discussion about the expectations and future requirements of the industry with regard to an optimum air transport chain. At the same time, representatives of the Community outlined just what comprehensive services are already available at the location, especially for the safe transport of highly sensitive pharmaceutical shipments – services that go far beyond the range of many other major airports and provide the basis for Frankfurt’s leading position in Europe.

Frankfurt Airport offers ideal conditions in order to satisfy the increasingly demanding requirements for rapid, reliable and efficient air transport for pharmaceutical shipments. Already with more than 7,000 square meters of temperature-controlled and GDP-certified storage and handling areas (-24°C to +24°C) in the front row and with direct access to the apron the location is the number 1 in Europe. In addition, there are also numerous high-quality services which freight forwarders can take advantage of as required. These include, for example, modern thermal transporters specially designed for the transport of temperature-sensitive goods on the apron. So, irrespectively of weather conditions and the temperature outdoors, they ensure the proper compliance with the necessary cold chain.

In this connection, Frankfurt can also boast one special feature: with the help of thermal vans, an extremely powerful infrastructure for ground handling has been developed on the basis of which – despite occasionally slightly longer distances at Germany’s largest airport – the handling of goods in a non-temperature controlled environment is always less than five minutes.

Joachim von Winning commented, “In particular, this unique ‘5-minute product’ demonstrates that Frankfurt is in a position to offer the industry and the freight forwarders top services which are among the best worldwide. For us this is the best foundation for building on and, in cooperation with the stakeholders including public authorities, to further optimize the performance around the transport of pharmaceutical products and to strengthen Frankfurt’s position as the leading hub for air cargo and especially for the transport of pharmaceuticals”.