With the International Air Transport Association’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics certification fresh under its belt, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is eager to reap the benefits of the hard work that went into the achievement.

“It’s been almost two years since we started pursuing it,” said Milton de la Paz, vice president of airline relations at DFW Airport, in an interview during IATA’s World Cargo Symposium in Singapore. “But once we had the companies on board, we went from testing to completion in about six months.”

DFW is only the second airport in North America with a CEIV Pharma community, after Miami International Airport.

The founding members of the DFW CEIV community consist of dnata cargo USA, SCL Cold Chain, B.I.G. Logistics and Expeditors. De la Paz said that a couple more have already asked to join and should be on board within about six months.

At the heart of the certification is DFW’s 37,000-square-foot cold chain facility, operated by dnata and opened in November 2017. It operates 24/7 and includes two dedicated pharma chambers, three multi-temperature zones and a 15,000-square-foot area for airside refrigeration. Additional features include a refrigerated dock with truck doors, dry cargo space to handle a variety of customer needs and a certified customs screening facility for imports and exports.

dnata handled over 500 tonnes of perishables in Dallas over the last 12 months.

“Once we had that physical infrastructure in place, the next thing we needed was to show the world how serious we are about the business,” said John Ackerman, executive vice president of global strategy and development at DFW. “That’s where the CEIV Pharma certification comes in. We’ve been telling people that DFW is getting in the game and we’re going to enter this market. Now that we have something tangible to show for it, we think that really shows our commitment and it’s something that the market will respond to.”

At the same time, Ackerman and his team have been figuring out how to develop key pharma trade lanes to take full advantage of the new certification. He said that India is a primary target, given the potential of the market.

“We have a few things that look promising but it’s going to be a challenging process,” he said. “Some of the pharma manufacturers we’ve been talking to didn’t really know anything about DFW. I could look at that and be sad or disheartened, but it’s also encouraging and I’m glad because I know that all that opportunity is out there. It shows the potential.”

DFW is exploring digital enhancements too, with Ackerman saying that the airport would soon be joining Pharma.Aero, the cross-industry organization which aims to improve pharmaceutical handling. DFW is also looking at options for some sort of data cloud for its pharma community, something that has so far not been implemented by an airport in the US.

“You’ll see this recurring theme of us addressing both our physical infrastructure and the soft capabilities,” said Ackerman. “The hard and the soft have to come together, and hopefully the soft is what’s going to become a differentiator as well. We’re very fortunate to have open areas that we have yet to develop. If we take that and then add a market-leading digital layer on top, I believe we can win.”

Apart from pharmaceuticals, e-commerce is another focus segment for DFW. Similar to pharma, many e-commerce shipments are flown into the US via the main coastal gateways and a few inland hubs like Chicago and Nashville, leaving a gap in the centre of the country where they might ultimately be destined.

“We’re working on figuring out how we can become an international e-commerce gateway,” Ackerman said. “We need the right infrastructure and the right capabilities. We’re actively pursuing that two-pronged strategy, with facilities on the one hand, and thinking about how we can do e-commerce differently and more efficiently on the other.”

Ackerman feels that he has been doing a lot of talking in the last couple of years about what is coming to DFW and the vision the airport has set for itself, but is glad that the hard work is paying off.

“Now I’m excited that we’ve done it in what we think is a meaningful way, and the market seems to be taking notice,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do, but things are starting to come together for us on a variety of fronts.”

By Jeffrey Lee

Asia Cargo News | Singapore