First of all, let me emphasise that the impact of COVID-19 on pharma logistics is, and will continue to be, enormous. The ease of occurrence and the pace of progression associated with this particular pandemic crisis has stunned the entire logistics sector and shocked the world. Air freight, in particular, has been hugely disrupted, and the suddenness of the situation literally caught the industry with its pants down.

Be in no doubt, the massive cutbacks we are currently seeing in air transport capacity is extremely worrying news for pharma logisticians. While medicines continue to be delivered by air with some extraordinary efforts, the current temporary air cargo boost is unsustainable without the infrastructure and effective subsidies from PAX flying. Planes are being sold and mothballed at an unprecedented rate. And not only are airlines massively cutting back, all airports are closing at least some of their doors.

These doors, along with the supporting infrastructure, may never reopen. Singapore’s Changi Airport, for example has closed its huge Terminal 2 and I understand that they are now considering mothballing Terminal 4. This is a picture that is being repeated around the world with 75% of global flight capacity currently grounded.

 With this in mind, it goes without saying that the post-pandemic pharma transportation and distribution system will need to be much more robust, resilient and diverse in order to cope with reduced air freight capacity, higher freight costs and the possibility in the future of similar emergencies and disruptive events.

Therefore a lot of changes are going to be necessary if we are to make the supply chain more shock-proof and nimble after the crisis subsides...Fill Out Form Below to Read More