LATAM Cargo reports 150% rise in pharma air cargo traffic

LATAM Cargo reported a 150% increase in pharmaceutical air cargo shipments between Europe and an unnamed destination, while the global pharmaceutical air cargo market remains flat.

The disclosure gives a relative change, not an absolute volume. It includes no baseline tonnage, freight rate, capacity percentage or other measure that would place the 150% gain in context.

For shippers, the concrete signal is faster shipment growth on a Europe-linked pharmaceutical lane. For carriers and forwarders, it does not establish market-wide expansion, added tonnage or better profitability.

Where is pharmaceutical production shifting?

Frank van Gelder, Pharma.Aero secretary general, said: “China is no longer only a major source of pharmaceutical ingredients and manufacturing capacity; it is becoming an increasingly important centre for biotechnology, clinical development, and innovative medicines.”

Van Gelder attached a commercial warning to the shift: “More nodes do not automatically mean greater resilience, more tonnage, or better profitability.”

• Van Gelder said India remains essential to generics and manufacturing while expanding its innovative capabilities. India also helps shift the geographical centre of production and innovation.
• The Middle East joins China and India in that shift. Van Gelder identifies all three as particularly important to the global pharmaceutical supply chain.
• Van Gelder said Europe and North America remain central, even as innovation and production become more geographically distributed.

Van Gelder calls this a multi-polar pharmaceutical world. Its defining operating feature is a multi-node supply chain: interconnected manufacturing sites, clinical centres, specialized logistics hubs and healthcare delivery points, rather than dependence on a few dominant origins and gateways.

What changes for shippers, carriers and forwarders?

For shippers, distributed production can reduce dependence on a few origins while adding international legs, handoffs and clinical schedules. Regional gateways and specialized corridors may create new airfreight options, but they also require closer coordination across participants.

For carriers and forwarders, the opportunity depends on whether each new node meets four tests, van Gelder said:

• Qualified
• Connected
• Interoperable
• Economically justified

These are qualification gates, not merely labels on a network map. Van Gelder said pharmaceutical movements need temperature-controlled infrastructure, qualified handling facilities and reliable connections between supply chain participants.

The distinction is financial as well as operational. Operators must separate real diversification from expensive duplication. A wider network can add routes without adding resilience, tonnage or profitability, and no available figure quantifies the return from new gateways.

What do advanced therapies demand?

Van Gelder said advanced therapies bring the most profound change. In autologous cell therapy, a patient’s cells can be collected, transported for manufacturing and returned as a personalized treatment.

For that workflow, chain of identity, chain of custody, time, temperature and clinical scheduling become inseparable. A disruption can affect a treatment appointment, making coordination failures more than a routine logistics delay.

Radioligand therapies add another set of highly time-sensitive, product-specific constraints. Operators therefore need qualified handling, reliable links and coordinated control of identity, custody, time, temperature and scheduling across each handoff.

Van Gelder identifies regional gateways and specialized corridors as opportunities for airfreight and specialist logistics providers. No carrier or forwarder receives an endorsement in the account, and no volume forecast accompanies the new production centres.

Will new hubs mean more airfreight?

Van Gelder cautioned against assuming that new pharmaceutical production centres, or growth in innovative medicines, would automatically translate into greater airfreight volumes. Distributed production identifies potential routes; it does not establish demand at any specific tonnage, rate or utilization level.

The coming test is whether regional gateways and specialized corridors can turn distributed production into dependable airfreight volume without duplicating cost. LATAM Cargo’s disclosure supplies no rate or capacity trajectory to support a stronger forecast.