RIOgaleão Cargo receives IATA CEIV pharma certification

Dec 03, 2016: RIOgaleão Cargo becomes the first airport in the Americas to obtain the CEIV Pharma certification (Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators) issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The recognition of the programme, adopted worldwide, is the result of a series of changes in the cargo terminal at Tom Jobim International Airport, with emphasis on improvements in capacity, infrastructure and storage processes for pharmaceuticals, including those requiring controlled temperature, and training of the professionals involved.

Investments in RIOgaleão Cargo have already exceeded $30 million since the concession began in August 2014.

One of the main elements for the position of RIOgaleão Cargo as an important logistics player in the pharmaceutical chain, and consequently for the acquisition of CEIV Pharma, was the opening of TECA Farma 2, which made it possible to triple the storage capacity of refrigerated loads. The Teca Farma 2 occupies an area of ??11 thousand m³ and is fully automated, has two environments of different temperatures (2° to 8° and 16° to 22°), air-conditioned docks and is the only one in the country to have a stacker crane, Which provides even more agility in the operation. In total, Tom Jobim International Airport has 17,000 m³ of temperature controlled storage area.

Other changes required by the association were also adopted as the revision of procedures and the re-adaptation of other infrastructure items. This same process of modernisation granted to RIOgaleão Cargo, at the beginning of this year, the Authorisation of Operation of Company (AFE) and Special Authorization (AE), granted by the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (ANVISA), which attest that the cargo terminal is in line with industry best practices and meets regulatory agency requirements. The Special Authorization guarantees to the terminal the storage of controlled products in the primary zone.

Today, approximately 22 percent of the revenues from the TIO of RIOgaleão are related to the movement of pharmaceutical cargoes and under controlled temperature - among them, the main vaccination campaigns in the country, which pass through the terminal throughout the year. According to UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), immunisations prevent more than three million child deaths annually worldwide.

“When the logistics chain moves pharmaceuticals and temperature controlled, it is not simply carrying goods: it is carrying supplies, medicines and vaccines that will help save lives, benefiting thousands of people. The pharmaceutical industry finds in the air cargo the speed and the transport efficiency that these products of high value and sensitive to the temperature variations need. All this operation must be in compliance with the good practices from the beginning of the collection at the origin until it is made available to the final consumer. It is at this moment that RIOgaleão Cargo comes on the scene, and obtaining CEIV Pharma proves that we are committed to ensuring that we operate to the highest possible quality standards on a global level. Achieving this certification means our customers can be confident that their cargo will be handled according to the most appropriate and recommended circumstances and practices at all stages of the process,” said Patrick Fehring, director of RIOgaleão Cargo.