Brussels, Changi airports strengthen green lanes with hopes to integrate

Brussels Airport Company and Changi Airport Group are looking to create an end-to-end “digital green lane. ” Leaders of the airports have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on pharmaceutical logistics initiatives, best practices, and digitalization and sustainability trials. Digital, sustainable future Changi Airport Group (CAG), which operates Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), is leading a trial to digitalize its Truck Dock Slot Booking (TDSB), Ching Kiat Lim, executive vice president of air hub and cargo development at CAG, told Air Cargo Next . TDSB has reduced waiting times and evened out cargo collection and lodgment, he said. [caption id="attachment_57134327" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ching Kiat Lim, executive vice president of air hub and cargo development at Changi Airport Group (CAG), and Geert Aerts, chief cargo and real estate officer at Brussels Airport Company (BAC), shake on the strategic partnership. (Photo/Brussels Airport)[/caption] “Shorter truck waiting times also contribute to the Changi air hub’s overall sustainability efforts, which includes driving the reduction of carbon emissions,” Lim said. Brussels Airport (BRU) rolled out its Digital Green Lane initiative last year, which allows freight to be picked up or dropped off at a designated time and freight information to be shared digitally throughout the process. “Looking ahead, our ambition would be to connect both systems end to end to create a digital air lane,” Geert Aerts, chief cargo and real estate officer at Brussels Airport Company (BAC), told Air Cargo Next . “This way, we create full transparency and drive process improvement.” BAC and CAG have collaborated since 2016 when they founded the nonprofit Pharma.Aero with Miami International Airport (MIA). Pharma.Aero members work together to enhance pharmaceutical handling capabilities. The MOU, signed March 2, supports the Green Air Pharma Corridor study, undertaken with other Pharma.Aero members, to establish a green lane with sustainability standards to be achieved throughout the end-to-end supply chain. “The Green Air Pharma Corridor study aims to develop a set of sustainability standards to qualify a pharmaceutical trade lane as a green lane,” Lim said. “This can help to ensure that stakeholders throughout the supply chain — airports, cargo handlers and airlines — put in place targeted measures to achieve decarbonization.” As part of its pharmaceuticals offerings, BRU is working on enhancing service level agreements (SLAs). “We are currently pushing the bar very high with our Digital Green Lane initiative at Brussels Airport, which improves efficiency on landside activities,” Aerts said. “Focusing on the cargo transition from landside to airside, and the processes at airside itself are pivotal for the smooth handling of pharmaceuticals at the airport. “At BRU, we have the ambition to offer a 60-minute SLA between the ground handler and the aircraft” he added. “We have recently invested in IoT [Internet of Things] to monitor cargo movements, which will identify bottlenecks at specific areas.” Leaders in pharma cargo BRU handles about 65,000 tonnes of cargo monthly, according to Aerts. Pharmaceuticals and life sciences cargo has been increasing at the airport. “In 2022, 14% of all goods handled at BRU for export were pharmaceuticals, compared to 11% in 2021,” Aerts said. “This growth is partly driven by exports of COVID-related products such as vaccines and antiviral medicine, but mostly by a general increase of pharmaceutical products coming from factories in and around Belgium. “Belgium is and remains a hotspot for pharmaceuticals and life sciences. In 2022, Pfizer announced an investment of 1.2 billion euros ($1.28 billion) in its Puurs site, Takeda 300 million euros ($319.3 million) in its Lessines site and GSK 100 million euros ($106.4 million) in its Rixensart site.” SIN saw cargo throughput of about 1.85 million tonnes in 2022, according to Lim. “Given that Singapore is a key pharmaceutical manufacturing hub and one of the top pharmaceutical importers and exporters in the region, pharmaceuticals is a key vertical for the Changi air cargo hub, along with high-tech, capital equipment, e-commerce and perishables,” Lim said. SIN has nearly 30,000 square meters of temperature-controlled cargo handling facilities and established Pharma@Changi , a partnership of CEIV pharma-certified companies in Singapore. “We aim to share best practices and co-develop use cases to enhance the air cargo community’s capabilities in handling temperature-sensitive pharma shipments through the standardization of procedures and key performance indicators,” Lim said about the MOU.

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