India is MIA’s fourth busiest market in Asia for pharmaceuticals

February 14, 2018: Leading international freight airport, Miami International Airport (MIA), is the only US airport to sponsor Air Cargo India 2018, the largest air cargo exhibition and networking conference in India, organised by The STAT Trade Times.

The three-day exhibition will be held between February 20 and 22 at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai.

The sponsorship is part of MIA’s ongoing outreach to India, which is its fourth-busiest Asian cargo market. It amounts to annual trade worth $234 million, despite absence of nonstop Miami service.

India is also MIA’s largest source of pharmaceutical product imports by volume, which accounted for 616.971 tonnes in 2016.

As a sponsor, MIA will be hosting a roundtable on February 22, which will be moderated by Emir Pineda, logistics manager of Miami-Dade Aviation Department Trade. The roundtable will deliberate on how industry collaborations can foster efficient and profitable air cargo supply chain.

In the last two years, MIA has helped in forging successful partnerships in the cargo industry, including MIA’s first e-commerce workshop, with over 30 local air cargo industry stakeholders held in January. The workshop was aimed at establishing Miami-Dade County as one of the world’s leading e-commerce hubs. It also conducted Florida’s first-ever ocean-to-air perishables trans-shipment program, held last February, which allows transport of perishables from local seaports to MIA, without any Customs duties.

MIA also obtained IATA’s designation for its pharma hub airport for organising a community of logistics companies, which are certified under IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) program.

In 2017, four MIA pharma hub partners obtained CEIV Pharma certification, and two additional members of MIA’s cargo community also were also certified, taking the tally to six companies.

MIA’s pharma trade has witnessed a growth in value, from $1.8 billion in 2010 to $4.4 billion in 2016.

“We look forward to strengthen our ties with the Indian cargo industry during the three-day Air Cargo India-2018 event,” said Joseph Napoli, Chief of Staff of Miami-Dade Aviation Department.

“Indian economy, which is one of the world’s largest in gross domestic product, generates substantial cargo traffic for MIA, and we hope to fuel the growth through new partnerships, and add nonstop services to India in the future,” said Napoli.