Saudia Cargo has inaugurated its modern cold storage facility for pharmaceuticals and medicines at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah to meet increasing demand for sensitive, temperature controlled shipments.

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

The centre ships and stores pharmaceuticals using advanced technologies along with sophisticated active temperature control containers, which require advanced passive solution technology, especially for products needing transportation between +2-8C and +15-25C.

Saudia Cargo chief executive officer, Omar Hariri says: “The new facility boasts a 1010M2 pharmaceutical handling space with double operational capacity and conforms to the international standards of World Health Organization, the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use as well as the local standards of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority.”

He adds: “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.”

The opening event was attended by Saudia Cargo chairman of the executive committee and member of the board of directors, Mohammed Abunayyan; Saudi Food and Drug Authority executive director of the branches, Abdullah Al-Ruwaiteh; along with representatives from the airport, Customs, airport government agencies and Saudia Cargo pharmaceutical clients.

Saudia Cargo aims to open more facilities across Saudi Arabia in line with its vision and is planning to launch an 800m2 specialist pharmaceutical handling facility in Riyadh offering FlyPharma services.