IATA recognizes Hong Kong as CEIV Pharma partner airport

IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators for pharmaceutical logistics certification (CEIV Pharma) continues its march towards global pharma handling standards with the recognition of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) as a partner airport. The recognition denotes an airport-wide application of IATA’s standards for pharmaceutical transportation between aircraft and agents.

HKIA is one of the few airports to achieve an airport-wide certification, meaning it has the expertise to handle the entire airside pharmaceutical transportation process from end-to-end, from aircraft touchdown to releasing the pharmaceuticals to agents, and vice versa.

Zhang Baojian, IATA’s regional vice president for North Asia said that earning an airport-wide recognition would allay shippers concerns about the state of their pharma products. “Having undergone a rigorous assessment for the CEIV Pharma certification, HKIA’s community stakeholders are well placed to serve this important segment of the air cargo industry,” he said.

IATA’s CEIV Pharma Certification Program is designed to help the industry develop a network of certified pharmaceutical trade lanes that meet consistent cold-chain management standards and assure product integrity.

HKIA’s three cargo terminals (Asia Airfreight Terminal Limited, Cathay Pacific Services Limited and Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited) and three ramp handling operators (Hong Kong Airport Services Limited, Jardine Aviation Services Limited and SATS HK Ltd), along with a local base carrier, Cathay Pacific Group, have now all earned IATA CEIV Pharma.

Asia Airfreight Terminal has also announced that it will invest and additional US$2 million into its cold chain facilities, to purchase 21 more cool dollies this year.