From The LoadStar:
As pharmaceutical manufacturers push to complete their trials of Covid-19 vaccines, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is at the centre of a race to make sure the transport of vaccines by air and road will go as smoothly as possible.
There is no doubt that the effort to distribute vaccines around the world will strain the air cargo industry and that it requires collaboration across a broad range of parties – from transport and logistics providers to several government agencies – to manage this. Fast and transparent processes have to be in place, backed by support from the authorities, to ensure a secure and seamless, unimpeded flow of vaccines all along the supply chain.
A broad coalition
The cargo community in the Netherlands has joined forces in the ‘Vaccines Gateway Netherlands (VGN)’, initiated by Air Cargo Netherlands, Air France KLM Martinair Cargo and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The VGN harnesses the expertise of about 60 companies and government agencies.
“We’re in this together. It’s not only the airport Schiphol,” said Ferry van der Ent, director of business development cargo of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Among the participants are also representatives of the airports of Eindhoven and Maastricht, which stand by to shoulder some of the traffic if the volume were to exceed Schiphol’s capacity.
The airport has ample capacity to handle pharmaceuticals, as it does on a daily basis. The focus of the task force is on scenarios that go beyond the range of the existing facilities and processes, Mr van der Ent explained.
The VGN deals with operational and technical aspects as well as with communication and governmental aspects, such as security, safety and clearance. It consists of two working groups, with one looking after operational and technical questions, the other after marketing communication. Within these groups are sub-groups. One sub-group in the operational group deals with airside processes, another with those between the first and second line cargo facilities, while yet another addresses questions like volume forecasts, what types of packaging are used etc.
Preparing for potential challenges
“There are still many questions to be answered,” Mr. van der Ent noted. “How much volume can we expect, and when? What are the temperature demands? Without knowing all the answers, we anticipate and reconstruct scenarios with assumptions.”
One of the assumptions at this point is that Schiphol will mainly handle vaccines produced in the European Union that are exported overseas, but it is possible that it will also be dealing with vaccines imports or such shipments in transit, so the VGN must address all three scenarios....
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