Emirates has launched SkyPharma, its new facility at Dubai International Airport dedicated to temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical shipments.
“Every day, pharmaceutical products are critical to the health and well-being of people, and are transported from their place of manufacture to destinations across the world,” said Nabil Sultan, divisional senior vice president of cargo at Emirates. “For many of these products, such as vaccines, the time taken to transport the product from its origin to the destination is of critical importance and the air cargo industry plays an important role.”
The new, 4,000m2 facility features two temperature-controlled zones of 2°C to 8°C and 15°C to 25°C, 88 cool cells and five temperature-controlled acceptance and delivery truck docks.
SkyCargo has also been certified under the European Union’s Good Distribution Practice guidelines for medicinal products for human use, covering all of the carrier’s handling of pharmaceutical shipments at both SkyPharma at Dubai International Airport and SkyCentral, Emirates’ freighter hub at Al Maktoum International Airport, connected by a bonded trucking service consisting of 12 dedicated reefers.
“The GDP guidelines are today considered the benchmark in the pharmaceutical industry for ensuring that the quality and integrity of the pharmaceutical product are maintained during the transportation,” said Sultan. “Emirates SkyCargo is the first cargo airline in the world that has obtained GDP certification for its multi-airport hub operation.”
The certification was awarded by Bureau Veritas after an audit process carried out by the agency’s team from Germany.
“Our new Emirates SkyPharma facility and our new GDP certification will allow us to work even more closely with our partners in the pharmaceutical industry,” said Sultan. “In addition, our dedicated pharma-handling facility at Dubai will further consolidate Dubai’s position as a leading transportation hub for healthcare and pharma logistics.”
Cargolux was the first airline in the world to awarded the GDP certification for pharmaceuticals in 2014.