If airfreight operators want to claw back pharmaceuticals (pharma) market share from their seafreight counterparts they need to address the “unacceptably high” amount of product write-offs due to temperature spikes across the supply chain.
According to recent International Air Transport Association (Iata) figures, airlines currently carry around 0.5 million tonnes (mt) of pharma products compared to the 3.5mt carried by shipping lines.
Managing director of SPX Logistics, Sophie Goosen, told shippers attending a Savino Del Bene Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Interactive Forum in Johannesburg last week that the pharmaceuticals industry would be worth US$850 billion next year, with temperature-sensitive products worth around US$250bn of that figure.
“Yet the annual write-offs on airfreight amount to US$2.5-US$12.5bn, an unacceptably high figure.”
