Saudia Cargo inaugurates pharma cold storage hub at KAIA

Saudia Cargo has recently inaugurated one of the region’s newest and most modern cold storage facilities of pharmaceuticals and medicines at King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA), to meet the surge in demand for highly-sensitive and temperature-controlled shipments.

The refrigerated warehouse was opened in conjunction with the launch of FlyPharma, an innovative product designed specifically to meet the growing demand for the pharmaceutical and life sciences sector.

“The new facility boasts a 1,010sqm pharmaceutical handling space with double operational capacity and conforms to the international standards of World Health Organisation, the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, as well as the local standards of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority,” said Omar Hariri, CEO, Saudia Cargo.

The center ships and stores pharmaceuticals using the most advanced technologies along with sophisticated active temperature control containers, which require advanced passive solution technology, especially for products needing transportation between +2^oC to + 8^oC or +15^oC to + 25^oC.

“We have listened, as always, to our customers, their feedback and expectations during face-to-face meetings and analysed the results of food and drug shipment surveys. We built on the feedback and results and came up with a good perception that helped us launch the new project, which is the first step taken in line with the Saudia Cargo new Transformation Strategy 2020,” Hariri explained.

Saudia Cargo aims to open more similar facilities Kingdom-wide in line with its vision and is currently planning to launch an 800sqm specialist pharmaceutical handling facility in Riyadh offering FlyPharma services.

The opening event was attended by Mohammed Abunayyan, member of Board of Directors and Chairman of Executive Committee, Saudia Cargo; Abdullah Al-Ruwaiteh, Executive Director of the Branches, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority; representatives from KAIA, Customs, airport government agencies and a number of Saudia Cargo pharmaceuticals clients.