FCS Frankfurt Cargo Services announced it successfully concluded the CEIV certification process from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on September 29, confirming that the company officially meets the standards that apply to the transportation of pharmaceutical products.
Frankfurt Cargo Services said in a statement that IATA gives this certification to companies that can ensure high quality across the board for sensitive medical products.
COVID vaccine handling
It noted that with vital deliveries of large quantities of vaccine for the novel coronavirus likely to be needed in the near future, these kinds of handling options are becoming more important than ever before.
“The requirements that apply to safe storage and transportation of pharmaceutical products have been evolving steadily in recent years. Pharmaceutical handling is very demanding. It requires clear and stable processes for product safety. Earning certification according to the IATA CEIV standard confirms to us and our customers the quality of FCS’s longstanding activities in this segment,” said Stefan Kassau, manager Processes & Pharma Handling at FCS.
FCS noted that the certification adds value to the company in terms of its own competencies with the IATA audit finding that the internal training on handling pharmaceutical products that are incorporated into the FCS training concept according to IATA CEIV specifications to be good.
It added that a smooth and uninterrupted cold chain is vital to reliable pharmaceutical logistics with many pharmaceutical products very sensitive to even the slightest fluctuations in temperature, and some can even lose efficacy.
“In the course of the certification process, the FCS special warehouses were equipped with a state-of-the-art new temperature monitoring system and underwent an in-depth audit. Functionality and safety for the products were confirmed by the necessary temperature mapping activities,” says Christoph Cyranek, manager Quality Assurance & Performance Improvement at FCS.
“As part of our preparations for the logistics involving Covid-19 vaccines that is presumably coming up, this certification comes at just the right time, of course. As the first step, we already decided to expand our existing infrastructure so even more handling space can be provided for active refrigerated containers,” he added.
GDP certification to come up
“The next big step, what is known as GDP certification, is also coming up soon. EU “good distribution practice” (GDP) certification for medical products for human use, like CEIV certification, serves to monitor the distribution chain with an eye to the quality and intactness of medicinal products,” FCS said.
But unlike CEIV certification, it noted that the GDP certification addresses a larger segment of the economy since GDP certification relates to the entire process of transportation from the producer through to the end customer, independent of airfreight.
FCS said it is working in tandem with other companies based at Frankfurt Airport that also have CEIV certification, like Fraport Ground Services, making the German gateway attractive as a transhipment point for the pharmaceutical industry, which is especially strong in Germany.
