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American Airlines Cargo builds pharma corridor connecting Europe and the US

American Airlines Cargo has established a temperature-controlled pharma corridor linking life sciences hubs in Amsterdam and Brussels with US pharma hubs via London Heathrow. The corridor, which utilises belly capacity on American Airlines' passenger flights, is designed to support the growing demands of pharmaceutical and healthcare supply chains with a temperature-controlled logistics solution across both ground and air networks. Built in alignment with IATA CEIV Pharma and GDP standards, the solution integrates validated temperature-controlled trucking services operated in partnership with FlyUs Aviation Group with American's ExpediteTC temperature-controlled service in a bid to ensure seamless, end-to-end cold chain protection. Operating as a daily, GDP-certified service since 1 May, the temperature-controlled trucking connects Amsterdam and Brussels directly with London Heathrow. Designed specifically for pharmaceutical and healthcare shipments, the service supports defined temperature ranges of 2°C to 8°C and 15°C to 25°C in both directions, helping ensure product integrity throughout the ground portion of the journey. The corridor brings together standardised processes across ground handling, transfer and air transport to ensure consistent temperature control and compliance throughout the journey.sx "The launch of this pharma corridor represents a strategic step in strengthening our pharmaceutical and healthcare network across Europe and the United States," said Eric Mathieu, managing director of customer experience at American Airlines Cargo. "Built on standardised, end-to-end processes and supported by validated ground solutions and our global air network, this initiative enables a consistent, reliable and fully compliant experience for customers moving temperature-sensitive shipments."

FedEx Life Sciences launches to 'meet the demands of next-gen healthcare'

FedEx today launched a dedicated life sciences division, as the pharmaceutical industry moves towards increasingly complex therapies that require faster, more specialised logistics networks. The express giant said the FedEx Life Sciences division would support the movement of pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices, clinical trial materials, and other healthcare shipments, reflecting the "growing demand for greater precision, visibility, and reliability across healthcare supply chains. FedEx has appointed Nick Gennari, current president of global healthcare & life sciences, healthcare and commercial sales, to lead the new business. The company said its healthcare business already generated around $10bn in annual revenue globally and has been supported by investments, including six Life Sciences Centers, IATA CEIV Pharma Corporate Certification and its FedEx Surround monitoring platform. The announcement comes as the industry prepares for the commercialisation of personalised medicines, cell and gene therapies and radioligand treatments, which one supply chain expert says will fundamentally change how pharmaceutical products move by air. "The processes that are in place for big pharma don't work for these products," Frank Van Gelder secretary general of Pharma.Aero told The Loadstar. While conventional pharmaceutical logistics has focused largely on vaccines and temperature-controlled medicines, Mr Van Gelder explained that emerging treatments were often significantly more time-sensitive, higher in value and, in some cases, radioactive. "These products come all with different characteristics," he said, adding that future supply chains would require "quicker, faster, shorter lead times; customs needs to be aligned, 100% traceability and 100% visibility." He also argued that airports and cargo handlers would increasingly need to move towards "commodity-specific ground handling", rather than treating all pharmaceutical shipments in the same way. "People say, 'oh, Frank, but this is a niche'. I don't think it is a niche," he said, pointing to advances in oncology and precision medicine that could significantly improve survival rates for some cancers. FedEx said its new organisation would "combine dedicated healthcare expertise with advanced monitoring capabilities to help customers manage increasingly specialised shipments". However, Mr Van Gelder argued that despite advances in tracking technology, the pharmaceutical industry still lacked genuine end-to-end supply chain visibility because of fragmented logistics networks. "The technology is not the limiting factor, but human intervention is," he said. "You can follow your [ecommerce] box you ordered in China... until it arrives at your door. We don't have that in pharma." He said pharmaceutical manufacturers themselves should take the lead in creating open platforms that bring together data from airlines, ground handlers ,and freight forwarders to provide full shipment visibility, while ensuring cyber security for the increasingly valuable therapies. As new treatments move from clinical trials into commercial production, Mr Van Gelder said, the industry had an opportunity "to redesign the air cargo pharma supply chain" to meet the demands of the next generation of healthcare.

Box ship attacked, Hormuz shut again, Middle East rates sail past pandemic peak

Gulf importers and their forwarders are once more turning to Middle East landbridge routes after renewed conflict between the US and Iran effectively closed the Gulf of Hormuz again. An Iranian attack on the 7,000 teu GFS Galaxy, operated by AD Ports' shipping subsidiary, Global Feeder Shipping, in the strait led to the vessel catching fire and forcing the 23-strong crew to abandon ship. According to authorities, one seafarer, an Indian national, remains missing. The US has again conducted large-scale attacks on Iran, which is again attacking facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Oman, and Jordan, claiming Hormuz is again closed. "Irrespective of what one might think politically about the conflict, it remains a fact that Iran still retains the ability, and willingness, to severely disrupt vessel traffic in the Strait of Hormuz," said Sea-Intelligence. "The question is whether we might have to contemplate a situation, where Iran might end up being successful in imposing a new governance regime for vessel traffic, including some element of fee payments for transits." A Sea-Intelligence analysis of the Middle East-related trades today shows how the conflict has resulted in very high freight rates, particularly on inbound shipments. "We see some very extreme changes, and they are all related to the MEISC region and are clearly the direct impact of the Hormuz crisis," the analyst said. "Global average rates increased 22%, whereas the MEISC to Far East and intra-MEISC rates skyrocketed more than 250%," it added. However, the 22% global growth figures was distorted by the Middle East situation, as only one trade outside the region - Far East-South America routes - sawrates rise above the global average. But while the global spot rate market remains some way off the extreme seen during the pandemic - with the global average spot rate still 54% below Covid-era peaks - Sea-Intelligence said certain niche trades and backhaul routes into the Middle East had broken the ceiling set by the pandemic, potentially indicating the enormous transport costs landbridge options incur. "Three trades directly impacted by the Hormuz crisis now are setting their own new records, with rates higher than even during the pandemic disruptions," it commented. "These are the trades from MEISC to Far East, Europe to MEISC, as well as intra-MEISC. "This seems to imply that the major trades, which usually gets most of the attention, are actually not the strongest presently - some of these other trades are closer to the pandemic-level rates than the major trades," it added.