PERISHABLES
FRESH thinking
The IATA CEIV standard has revolutionised the airfreighting of pharma goods – but
can it do the same for humble fruit and veg, asks Chris Lewis.
The International Air
Transport Association
(IATA) recently launched
a new industry certification:
the Centre for Excellence
for Perishable Logistics (or
CEIV Fresh). This looks to
improve the handling and the
transportation by air of fruit,
vegetables and similar products.
It follows the introduction
of a CEIV standard for
pharmaceuticals three years
ago and aims to bring similar
standards to this segment of
the airfreight market. CEIV
pharma was introduced to
address a perceived loss of
airfreight traffic to sea freight
and road; there had been
a marked improvement in
the reliability and precision
of temperature-controlled
technology in sea freight
containers and this had made
shippers of some types of
pharmaceuticals switch away
from high cost airfreight to
sea freight.
There was also a concern
that airlines, airports and
airfreight handlers were
not doing as good a job as
they might in ensuring that
pharmaceuticals in transit
did not suffer damaging
temperature “excursions.”
The CEIV pharma
programme aimed to
address these deficiencies
by improving the industry’s
level of competency,
operational and technical
preparedness and to build
a network of certified
pharmaceutical trade lanes
that meet consistent standards and assure product integrity.
Now, the airfreight industry has turned its attention to another
important traffic, that of fresh food and produce. For some time,
shippers having been putting pressure on the airfreight industry
to up its game. For example, back in 2018, Cool Chain Association
Chairman (and Cargwolux Global Product Manager for Healthcare
and Perishables) Stavros Evangelakakis called on the air cargo
community to drive its own standards for perishables, rather than
wait for other groups and outside agencies to impose them.
More collaboration, transparency and data sharing, as well as
training for perishables growers and better facilities, were needed
to improve the quality of an often fragmented and disconnected
perishables supply chain.
His call has now been heeded, with IATA’s announcement of
CEIV Fresh. The CEIV Fresh programme is primarily based on
the IATA Perishable Cargo Regulations (PCR) which combines
professional regulatory and operational input from industry
and government experts. However, the nature of food and plant
products makes for challenging handling and transportation.
Just how effective?
Lufthansa Cargo’s Chief Executive and Executive Board Chairman
Peter Gerber has said that the new CEIV Fresh standard was
42 August 2019 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
/www.airlogisticsinternational.com