Patrik Tschirch stressed in his review, that Frankfurt is Europe’s leading pharmaceutical hub by far. There are sufficient designated areas for the proper storage of and, above all, for handling
pharmaceuticals: more than at any other airport in Europe. A total of 14,000 m² on which temperature-critical goods can be processed, with direct access to the apron, Barig CEO Michael Hoppe
illustrated the favorable framework conditions.

Excellent Accessibility
The airport has been CEIV-certified since 2018, and there are around 20 state-of-the-art thermal transporters to ensure the necessary temperature of the shipments, also during transport within
the airport. The technical quality of the facilities is superb and, in terms of road connections – important for the delivery and collection of the goods – the airport is excellently located,
geographically, on the crossroads of leading European transport links.  
DoKaSch manager, Andreas Seitz pointed to a vulnerable point in the supply chain: the shipments’ pre-carriage and onward-carriage processes particularly require greater focus. In the case of
deviations of the specified temperatures, ground handlers must know exactly what immediately needs doing, and who to inform in order to prevent major damage. This therefore requires a high level
of professional staff competence in order to ensure shipment integrity around the clock.

Flexible and situational night flight control
With this, the manager brought the aspect of time into the discussion. As is well-known, a night-flight ban exists since years in Frankfurt, preventing take-offs and landings between 11 pm (or
midnight, in the case of delays) and 5 am. In this regard, Lufthansa Cargo Manager Harald Gloy expressly praised the local authorities for authorizing night flights for the air transport of
protective equipment or medical goods.
Pierre Dominique Pruemm, who, in addition to his work at the Air Cargo Community, has a professional responsibility in particular as Chairman of the Board of Management for Aviation and
Infrastructure of Fraport AG, pointed out that in normal years, i.e. without pandemic influences, around 120,000 tons of medical goods are handled annually in Frankfurt. Since the outbreak of
Covid-19, this amount has increased enormously, he stressed.

Politicians sit out problems instead of tackling them
Based on the experience gained over the past few months, the manager made several key demands on politics: The infrastructure for feeder transport (trucking) urgently needs improving. Priority
should be given to providing additional parking and parking facilities for trucks along the highways and motorways, including sanitary facilities for drivers. And for the transport of medical
goods and vaccines, the truck driving ban in force in Germany must be lifted on Sundays and public holidays. In addition, the Fraport manager added that the politicians must allow people who test
negative for Covid-19 right before their departure, to fly again. “Only under this condition can the filigree and costly infrastructure at airports be maintained.”

Digitalization is progressing only very slowly
Another criticism of politics, supported by all those in discussion, was the slow progress in digitalization. “We have to speed up and improve significantly,” Patrik Tschirch and Susanne
Klingler-Werner both said. Klingler-Werner also stressed that air freight was a “pandemic winner”, but only in the sense that the relevance of this industry for the supply of protective
equipment and medical goods had become clearly visible and tangible.
Looking to the near future, Patrik Tschirch and Harald Gloy emphasized that they did not expect a decline in volumes for the current year, nor for 2022. In other words, the ongoing shortage of
capacity in air freight due to the continued lack of belly cargo, will continue to bring profits to the coffers of Lufthansa Cargo, Turkish Airlines Cargo, and Cargolux, to name but three
airlines.

Heiner Siegmund

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