May 6-9^th stop by and say hello at  Bio 2007, at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts. I’ll be at Thermosafe Brands’ booth #1913.

April 24-26^th I will be attending INTERPHEX 2007 at New York City’s Javits Center . I’ll be at ThermoSafe Brands’ booth #2828. I hope to see you there.

Mexico City - The International Air Transit Association (IATA) concluded its first World Cargo Symposium this week in Mexico. The success of the event took everyone, including the planners by surprise as more than 750 delegates representing nearly all the world's airlines from all parts of the globe were in attendance.

There were multiple forums ranging from Cargo Terminal & Security to Cargo Technology & e-Freight Improvement. There was a separate Perishable Goods Forum which I attended that focused mainly on the challenges of transport of fresh-cut flowers, and produce and fish. And, oh yes, pharmaceuticals. 

First, some surprising general statistics. Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of IATA, opened the session with a state-of-the-union address in which he mentioned that although air cargo is responsible for the transport of 46% of the value of all goods in global commerce, it represents only about 12% of all airline revenue, which last year had its best performance since 9-11-01 and still lost $500 Million. 

Miami is the gateway for 86% of all flowers coming into the US including 12 cargo planeloads daily from Colombia and Ecuador alone. Additionally, 66% of all imported fish and 60% of all imported fruits and salad produce entering the US, comes through Miami.

These items on the opposite end of the perishables spectrum have more issues than Britney Spears compared to the logistics challenges of pharmaceutical freight. Details in the next posting.

Mexico City -The governing committee of the Live Animals and Perishables Board (LAPB) of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) today unanimously accepted the proposed draft document: Air Transport Logistics for Temperature-Sensitive Healthcare Products to be included in the next edition of the Perishable Cargo Manual.

Acceptance of the new requirement for the 240 member airlines occurred the opening day of IATA's inaugural World Cargo Symposium and "represents the beginning of a new chapter, literally and figuratively, for the handling of pharmaceutical freight." Said Eric Raemdonck, Secretary of the LAPB and Manager, Special Cargo Standards for IATA.

The document was authored by an 11 member, cross-industry working group that included IATA, PCCDG and C3 members, service providers, freight forwarders, and other partners related to packaging and distribution of medicinal cargo.

As chair of that working group, I was proud to represent the authors and introduce the document to the governing committee at their annual board meeting. It has been quite an undertaking as the document was drafted in less than 8 weeks. The airline industry, through the LAPB has demonstrated extraordinary cooperation with the PCCDG and other service providers involved in establishing relevant and practical guidelines for shippers handling healthcare products; in an effort to insure an industry-wide global standard of excellence. 

The 7th Edition of the Perishable Goods Manual will become effective July 1st, 2007, and will for the first time, be binding to its members. "These are not nice-to-have's but required practices" stated Carl Kole, Co-Chair of the LAPB, "and this working, living document will go a long way in our industry in establishing what we hope is an on-going relationship with the pharmaceutical industry through the PCCDG." 

I would like to recognize and congratulate the authors who unselfishly contributed their time and expertise to the writing of Chapter 17 of the IATA Perishable Goods Manual, Air Transport Logistics for Temperature-Sensitive Healthcare Products, and look forward to working with IATA and additional parters to industry in improving Good Cold-Chain Distribution practices.

Christa Baenziger, Sorono Labs and member of C3

Dr. Rafik H. Bishara, Chair, PCCDG

Michael English, Merck

Carl Kole, United Airlines Cargo Services and Co-Chair of IATA LAPB

Eric Raemdonck, Secretary LAPB and Manager Special Cargo Standards, IATA

Terry Sell, Envirotainer

Calvin Sharp, BAX Global

Edward Smith, PhD., Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

Nick Sticco, Bristol Meyers Squibb

David Ulrich, Abbott Pharmaceutical Operations

More on the impact this will have on the pharmaceutical industry in future postings as well as a review of highlights from the IATA World Cargo Symposium.