PERISHABLES
successful shipment requires the alignment of many stakeholders.
Shippers can have peace of mind, knowing that every entity
handling their goods is operating to the same standards.
Understanding the value of this to the success of its customers,
the Airport Authority Hong Kong pioneered the world’s first CEIV
Fresh certified airport community,” states Glyn Hughes, IATA’s
Global Head of Cargo.
Benny Siu, Senior Manager, Safety, Sustainability and Quality
Assurance at Hactl, one of the companies involved in the pilot,
was approached in connection with this initiative. What was the
new standard intended to achieve? It may be understandable
for pharma, an industry that is well used to standards and
regulations, but why do fruit and veg need it? It’s just mundane
stuff isn’t it; there are no safety issues. Or are there?
Siu responds: “Hactl treats perishables and the importance
of their condition on a par with how we deal with the most
demanding pharma and healthcare commodities; many
perishables, such as fresh seafood, are for human consumption,
and any deterioration is unacceptable. That’s why we have
immediately embraced CEIV Fresh. Perishables can be quite
valuable, too. So, in addition to safety considerations, correct
handling, including maintenance of consistent and optimum
temperatures throughout the supply chain, preserves shelf life
(or ‘vase life’, in the case of flowers) and enhances product value.
Any measure that can lead to improvements in perishables supply
chain standards and integrity must be of interest to our industry.”
He continues: “We see two major benefits from the IATA
CEIV approach to standards for commodities that require
special handling. Firstly, standards that have been produced in
close collaboration with carriers will then be in line with their
requirements, and viable; and it also means the carrier has a set of
standards that it approves, and can therefore require of its service
providers, such as handlers. Secondly, and perhaps even more
importantly, uniformity is key
to achieving consistently high
standards across the industry,
particularly as we are all
interlocking parts of the same
supply chain. IATA’s critical
mass membership as the
major carrier association, and
its experience in producing
industry standards, mean that
it is the most likely path to
achieving widespread traction
for any uniform standard –
which is what we all need and
expect from CEIV Fresh.”
But how easy will it be to
operate the new standard?
Not all airlines seem to be
convinced, because of the low
margins in the sector.
Siu argues: “It depends
largely on the point from
which you start. As Hactl
was already operating to
a very high, self-imposed
standard on perishables
handling going back years,
the extra steps to achieve
accreditation under CEIV
Fresh were relatively simple
and involved relatively little
added investment. But, if you
were starting from scratch,
GETTING TO GRIPS
WITH A GROWING
GLOBAL ISSUE
The world needs to get a grip on
waste in the food supply chain and
the new CEIV standards could play
an important part in that. Currently,
a third of the world’s food goes to
waste, says Cool Chain Association
Chairman, Stavros Evangelakakis.
Evangelakakis, who combines
his CCA role with that of pharma
and perishables at Cargolux, says
that the Cool Chain Association is
focused on reducing wastage and
improving the quality, efficiency
and value in the temperature
sensitive supply chain. He adds:
“We support the development of
global standards, which can help the
industry to improve.”
He further points out: “As
an Association, we have in fact
already worked on templates for
global standards and certification
projects for both perishables
and pharmaceuticals, where we
developed the Cool Chain Quality
Indicator, for example. CCA
represents all parts of the supply
chain and our members believe
that the freight industry can,
and must, do its part by ensuring
proper handling, and respecting
temperature during storage, buildup
and transportation.”
CCA recently launched a pilot
data sharing initiative to monitor
shipments of commodities such as
avocadoes and berries on trade
lanes from Latin America to Europe
and from the US to the Middle East.
The data will be analysed by a food
and waste expert and the results will
be made available to the industry to
demonstrate how collaboration can
improve the supply chain.
Evangelakakis concludes: “We
will be sharing our results with the
IATA team and are supportive of their
CEIV initiative, which is an important
milestone in the development of a
much-needed framework to help the
industry improve.”
The benefits of
connected cargo
Connected cargo
supply chain
Increased
visibility
Increased
productivity
Increased
profitability
• Achieves E2E visibility
• Gains real-time monitoring and alerts
• Reduced disputes and losses
• Reduced fraud
• Improves forecasting
• Reduced manual work
• Eliminates redundancies
• Removes dependency on paper
• Speedy transport of goods
• Generates faster invoicing
• Reduced costs
• Increased load factor
44 August 2019 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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