Centre of Excellence in Pharmaceutical Logistics
- Brussels Airport was the first airport in the world where stakeholders of the cargo community received the CEIV Pharma certification.
CEIV: Centre of Excellence in Pharmaceutical Logistics
As the 1st and largest airport community in the world where stakeholders are CEIV Pharma certified Brussels Airport stands out internationally for its dedicated infrastructure for the transport and handling of products that require an unbroken cold chain, in particular pharmaceutical and biotech products.
What is CEIV Pharma certification?
Brussels Airport developed the program in collaboration with IATA and was the pilot airport with its cargo community approach. We validated the CEIV checklist together with the pharmaceutical shippers in the BRU pharma shippers forum.
The CEIV pharma certification program became the standard in our industry. IATA is now rolling out the program on a global level.
> Who's already certified?
Brussels Airport was the first airport in the world where stakeholders of the cargo community in a joint approach have received the CEIV Pharma certification.
At this moment 18 companies active at BRUcargo are CEIV pharma certified.
The majority of all pharmaceutical shipments, handled at our airport, are going through a fully certified cool chain.
The Belgian pharma industry makes a major contribution to EU export
The Belgian pharmaceutical industry is highly export-oriented. In 2015, Belgium exported more than 41 billion euros of medicines and vaccines. More than 14% of the European pharma export is coming from Belgium: or 1/7th of all of biopharmaceuticals. This tremendous achievement gives us the 2nd position of all European countries.
Brussels Airport developed the program in collaboration with IATA and was the pilot airport with its cargo community approach. We validated the CEIV checklist together with the pharmaceutical shippers in the BRU pharma shippers forum.
The pharmaceutical sector continues to create jobs
In Belgium, 35,000 people are employed in the pharmaceutical sector. Approximately 4,200 people are engaged in R&D. This number increased by 2.86% compared to 2014, while the number of researchers in the EU lowered by 0.04%.
Air Transport: preferred means of transport
One of the principal stakes in the pursuit of this development is the transportation of these products to their final destination. The manufacturers have high expectations and specific requirements with regard to maintaining the quality of the products and the properties of the active ingredients throughout the logistics chain. They call on transportation services that, on the one hand, ensure the shortest route to the final customer and, on the other hand, maintain the quality of the product through an unbroken cold chain. For these companies, transport by air remains the best possible solution.
Bringing the unbroken cool chain to the next level
Brussels Airport has taken the lead in an innovative project to organize temperature controlled transport on tarmac, with live data and transparent info on location and temperature. The Airside Pharma Transporter aims at closing all risks in the cold chain and offer more transparency and increased confidence to the pharma industry.