Emirates SkyCargo has started handing pharmaceutical cargo at a new purpose-built facility in Chicago spread over 1,000 sq m, with scope for additional expansion.
It provides temperature-controlled zones for acceptance and delivery, pharma cargo build up and break down, storage and direct ramp access.
Developed in partnership with ground handling company Maestro, the facility has a capacity of 15,000 tonnes of pharma shipments per annum.
Nabil Sultan, divisional senior vice president, Emirates SkyCargo, said: “This was also a unique model wherein we worked closely with the ground handler and were involved in the planning for the facility from the very beginning.”
The dedicated pharma facility in Chicago is part of Emirates SkyCargo’s broader strategy for handling temperature sensitive pharma shipments not just at its Dubai hub but from origin to destination.
Following up on the pharma corridors initiative announced in January 2018, Emirates SkyCargo has expanded its initial network of 12 pharma stations to 20.
Henrik Ambak, Emirates senior vice president, cargo operations worldwide, said: “We introduced the pharma corridors initiative because we wanted to expand the required high standard of handling for pharma shipments further into our network and serve markets better from origin to destination.”
He added: “We have been successfully working with our ground handling partners at our major pharma points and the model has met with quite a lot of success and positive feedback from our customers.
“This has motivated us to replicate the model at more pharma stations thus growing our pharma corridors network to more than 20 stations. We’ll continue to look at how pharma flows through our network and add more stations in the future.”
