MUNICH – Facilities that follow Good Distribution Practices (GDP) certification of temperature-sensitive cargo are now becoming common. But two airport operators today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will create the first-ever GDP-certified route.
The two operators – Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (Hactl) and lux-Airport – said during a signing ceremony at the Air Cargo Europe conference that they will now “exercise their best efforts” to maintain GDP standards end-to-end for all healthcare-related shipments between Hong Kong and Luxembourg airports. Under the agreement, the two entities also pledged to educate global businesses about the value of trading with GDP-certified partners and verify that all participants in the transportation chain monitor their performance and maintain a quality control system.
Mark Whitehead, CEO of Hactl, said the MOU came about mostly “by customers’ desires and needs.” Forwarders, he said, are not comfortable unless the can be assured that that the product “arrives at the destination in the same condition as when it was shipped.” At the same time, he added that Hactl had a series of discussions with forwarders, urging them to pick up shipments promptly, “instead of treating us like some kind of cold storage facility.”
Kevin Nash, senior vice president of logistics for Cargolux, said all 25 of its freighter aircraft and their crews have been trained to adhere to GDP standards.
Training of the respective staffs was a significant investment, said Laurent Jossart, executive vice president of Luxair Cargo. More than 10,000 hours was spent getting 600 workers at 20 different companies up to speed on the standards for handling temperature-sensitive cargo and ensuring that containers never experience spikes in temperature at any point in the process.
The MOU received the blessing of the Luxembourg government, said François Bausch, the country’s Minister for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, who was also in attendance at the Wednesday event. This kind of agreement, he said, will “help to diversify the economy and improve infrastructure today” in Luxembourg, which he added is very well-situated in Europe for cargo shipment.