Swissport has launched its own quality label for warehouses, which meet the company’s high standards for the storage and handling of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical goods.
By introducing its own quality label, Swissport leverages its expertise from past external certifications and builds on its experience in facilitating pharmaceutical logistics. Based on in-house validations, cargo operations which achieve set standards in terms of infrastructure, processes and staff training will be brought under the Swissport Pharma Center label.
“With the Pharma Center label, we want to promote Swissport’s high service quality and process safety in the handling of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products,” explains Hendrik Leyssens, Vice President- Global Operations for Swissport’s cargo division. “Linking air and ground transportation with safe warehouse logistics, Swissport Pharma Centers are key infrastructures in the growing global network of airborne pharma logistics. Our workers are trained to the highest standards in protecting the integrity of temperature-sensitive goods.”
Initially, 14 facilities will be labelled Swissport Pharma Centers. All of them are certified by the IATA CEIV Pharma and British Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), making them benchmark operations in the Swissport network. Further facilities will be validated and may be brought under the label.
Of 115 cargo warehouses which Swissport runs around the globe, 72 facilities are equipped with temperature-controlled facilities and many workers are trained to the required standards and procedures.
In 2015, the first Swissport cargo warehouse was certified by the IATA Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV pharma). To date, 14 Swissport facilities have been certified under the CEIV Pharma standard and British MHRA. In February 2020, the Swissport cargo warehouse in Nairobi was awarded the CEIV Pharma certificate, making it Swissport’s 10th such facility and the first one operated by an independent air cargo handler in Africa.
