The Right Balance​​​​​​​ Between Time &​​​​​​​ Temperature

With India becoming one of the fastest growing perishables and pharma export market, the logistics industry looks to explore its amazing potential. The stakeholders will have to continuously adapt to the unique requirements of these time and temperature sensitive products and come up with the most tailored solutions to make it a win-win situation for all.

- Shreya Bhattacharya

At Air Cargo India 2018 – the most popular international air freight industry exhibition and conference, pharmaceuticals, without a doubt, was the top commodity that every logistics player was interested in. The reason is quite clear- firstly, it is one of the highest value shipments because of time criticality and temperature sensitivity, secondly India is easily the largest provider of generic medicines globally by volume today.

According to a recent report by ASSOCHAM, Indian pharmaceutical exports are likely to touch $20 billion by 2020 from the current level of around $16.5 billion, registering a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 30 percent. Also, Indian pharmaceutical sector is expected to register a growth of about 16 percent in 2018 and is likely to touch $55 billion by 2020 from the current level of $28 billion, reveals the joint study of ASSOCHAM and UL India.

Pharmaceutical goods shipped by air are indisputably valuable and, in most cases, require very specific handling and storage conditions. Customers are increasingly demanding risk lane assessments and categorising carriers’ services with standard criteria. Tracking devices and real time information is mostly a prerequisite, driven by the compulsion of maintaining temperature. Naturally, the logistics players at the event were keen on understanding the requirements of the shippers and showcased their tailor-made offerings for pharma transportation.