“Insights” Podcast #3 | Tune in for our latest episode on Sustainability featuring KatalX, Etihad Cargo and Expeditors
KatalX, Etihad Cargo and Expeditors are the guests of our third podcast episode deep delving into the concept of environmental sustainability in the healthcare supply chain logistics.
Damien De Chillaz, CEO and Co-founder of KatalX
“When we think of sustainability in vital supply chains, we naturally think about the sustainable development goals (SDGs), right? But you cannot do all of the 17 SDGs well, and you are not responsible for everything. You have to know where your responsibilities are. I believe, if you work on vital supply chains, there are four SDGs which count. The good health and well-being – SDG number 3, the climate action, obviously – SDG number 13, especially carbon tracking. Also, the circular economy is big in life science. It’s all about reverse logistics, making sure you reuse the boxes, the tracking device. And last but not least, which is also the DNA of Pharma.Aero, is collaboration. Especially in the supply chain of life science, it’s all about collaboration: collaboration between the 3PL, the 4PL, the carriers, the agencies, the FDA, EMA, and the customs, obviously to clear customs fast. It’s a lot of collaboration, multistakeholder collaboration.
Fabrice Panza, Cool Chain Solutions Manager Etihad Cargo
“I believe that the more sustainable we are, the more effective we are. There is a correlation between sustainability and being effective. It means also reducing our costs. We have to think big on what will be the future in 5 or 10 years if we don’t act right now. Having that in mind is helping each of the stakeholders to understand why they need at the moment in time to make that kind of investment. And once again, proving that some of the investments are cost-effective is certainly a good way to motivate the industry to go for sustainability. Just the process enhancement, reduction in time spent on the tarmac, for instance. If I spend less time on the tarmac, I will spend less fuel as an airline. Same for the CHA.”
Andy Faes, Regional Manager Healthcare Vertical Europe, Expeditors
“I have to say that the last couple of years has been a real increase in needs from the customers and other partners that we talk to. I do see there’s a bit of a switch between working with our customers and them putting also the requirements for sustainability when they do certain bids or want to work with different forwarders. They do take it into account and really take it into account. Another example I have specifically for pharma is by 2030 the European Commission is requesting all packaging solutions to be recyclable, for example. That’s another thing where we advise our customers to say Look, these and these and these packaging solutions, they’re more sustainable than others. We do take into account the big picture.”
Q: Does this impact the choice of your providers?
A: “Yes, definitely, yeah. There’s a lot of due diligence that we do with our providers. We have done that since the beginning of the company, but now we also take into account everything to do with sustainability. We also, when onboarding our service providers, we also take into account the measurements that they are taking to be more sustainable.”
Q: Is it expensive to be sustainable?
Damien De Chillaz, CEO and Co-founder of KatalX
“Yes and no. It’s expensive to make it a priority and kickstart projects. There’s a return on investment, obviously, on that. You build a strong brand. If you save carbon, you save cost. If you are making sure you monitor your transportation and logistics to be optimized and limit the recalls, limit the waste, limit the loss, and optimize your lanes based on carbon, at the end of the day, less carbon is less cost as well. So, it has to be a win-win. But I think my answer goes beyond that. I think it’s a win-win in terms of what brand you’re building and again, what purpose you’re serving. And if it’s true and genuine, as a manufacturer, as a big pharma, MedTech or a carrier, 3PL, you really build yourself into a leader which anyone wants to follow or join. That’s good for employees, for talents, and for the communities you serve. You have to start somewhere. You may want to start small, but it’s a mindset, put it this way.”
Andy Faes, Regional Manager Healthcare Vertical Europe, Expeditors
“I think sustainability is very important to make sure that we work smarter because people always think about measuring carbon footprint, et cetera, et cetera. But I still think there are a lot of things we can do by working smarter as well. That’s how we also help companies to work smarter. We have supply chain solutions that do digital twins, et cetera, to make sure that all companies that we work with do the best thing moving forward. If you look at our sustainability reports, the number of trees and things like that, we already saved by working smarter, I think really goes a long way.”
Fabrice Panza, Cool Chain Solutions Manager Etihad Cargo
“There is another example which is important for us in pharma logistics, the pharma corridor 2.0. We have set a global agreement between our two communities between Brussels, Belgium, and Abu Dhabi and UAE, where basically we take the full pharma air transportation from acceptance to delivery. We are using specific software in order to enable full transparency in the chain, but also through the usage of digital software, we are eliminating the usage of paper as well as reducing the waste of time. Basically, if we spent less time and if we are more in control of the time that we need, we will also reduce the impact on the environment.”
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Pharma.Aero launched the podcast “Insights” as a powerful platform for its members and partners, to further showcase their valuable expertise and insights on topics relevant to our industry.
The inaugural series of the podcast focuses on a topic of utmost importance – environmental sustainability within the healthcare supply chain. Bringing together a diverse range of stakeholders, the series aims to uncover the significance of sustainability for different players within the pharmaceutical logistics ecosystem.
The debut episode of the Pharma.Aero podcast boasted an impressive lineup of guests, all esteemed members of Pharma.Aero community: Darrel Chong, Global Head of Lifesciences & Healthcare at PSA BDP, Andreas Behnke, CEO and Station Manager Basel at Swissport, and Florence Lehec, Head of Marketing at Emball’iso.
Our second podcast in the series about Environmental Sustainability brought together three esteemed Pharma.Aero members: Brussels Airport, represented by Samuel Speltdoorn, Senior Business & Network Development Manager Cargo, Topa Thermal, represented by Jacques Le Comte, Business Development Manager, and Hive Zox, represented by its COO and Co-founder Miroslav Skorepa.
Pharma.Aero podcast is now available on popular podcast platforms, and on youtube, for those who prefer a visual experience.