© Peter Scott
Forwarders should beware of confusing demand for complex, high-value pharmaceutical therapies with expectations of increased volumes or improved profitability, warned Pharma.Aero secretary general Frank van Gelder this week.
He told The Loadstar that the days of assuming higher-value goods were a free pass to slap the shipper with higher rates were now in the past.
He said shippers now wanted proof that logistics operators can handle specialist medications and time-sensitive treatments.
“Demand for complex, high-value and time-sensitive therapies can increase, even when traditional tonnage grows more slowly or shifts between modes,” he explained. “Operators must demonstrate what their services actually protect.
“This means showing product integrity, continuity of treatment, predictability. and lower total risk. Premium prices cannot be justified merely by applying a pharma label. Profitability will depend on specialisation, measurable quality, and intelligent cost management.”
Instead, Mr van Gelder said, profitability depended on operators having the ability to develop specialist capabilities, demonstrate measurable quality, and manage costs effectively – particularly as pharma logistics requires investment in qualified infrastructure, handling, and personnel.
For forwarders, that distinction is important, because in pharma the requirements of different products can vary considerably, and the costs of maintaining appropriate handling standards can be substantial.
Mr van Gelder said profitability would depend on “specialisation, measurable quality, and intelligent cost management”, adding that the sector faced a broader challenge of balancing investment with the need to maintain affordable healthcare and access to new treatments.
He labelled this the “healthcare pressure point”, with pharmaceutical innovation on one side and affordability, access, and rising costs on the other.
And he noted that the challenge was “not simply whether we can transport the next generation of medicines”, it had become “whether we can help make them accessible and affordable to patients”.