Just a few weeks after successfully concluding its IATA CEIV certification, FCS Frankfurt Cargo Services — the largest airline-independent cargo handling company at Frankfurt Airport — has also officially received EU “good distribution practice” (GDP) certification for medical products for human use.

FCS said in a statement that this marks another important step in the company’s expansion of pharmaceutical logistics activities and ramping up preparations to handle sensitive coronavirus vaccine consignments.

Unlike CEIV certification, which relates exclusively to airfreight, GDP certification is independent of airfreight. It involves checking the quality of the distribution chain for medical goods and ensuring that they are intact all the way from the producer to the end customer according to EU standards.

Growing importance of pharma logistics

“FCS can offer its customers the very highest, safest and most secure standards for pharmaceutical handling. In our role as a cargo handling company located at the airport, we act as an important interface between air and ground transport with our special warehouses and transhipment processes,” said Claus Wagner, managing director of FCS.

“We are very proud to have received our GDP certification after having also achieved the CEIV certification recently. FCS is now able to distinguish itself from other service providers."

Markus Schneefuss, director of operations at FCS noted that the certification will allow its customers to be confident of the quality and integrity of their shipments.

A subsidiary of Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), FCS and its GDP certification fit into the “Project Coldstream” initiative just recently launched by WFS, which focuses on coordinating worldwide transportation of large delivery quantities of vaccines to fight the COVID-19 virus.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the industry expects these deliveries to amount to the largest volume of airfreight involving a single item ever transported.

The fact that FCS has GDP certification is highly important to Frankfurt Airport, too. With this certification, the company is making a valuable contribution to helping the site prepare optimally for the coming situation.