BACKGROUND
Poseidon
has
been
conceived
to
address
long-standing
quality,
safety
and
service
is
-
sues
associated
with
the
long-haul
transportation
of
pharmaceutical
products.
It
sets
out
to
challenge
some
of
the
ingrained
beliefs
and
out-moded
practices
that
plague the current pharma-freight paradigm.
Pharmaceutical
shippers
form
the
backbone
to
the
Poseidon
program
and
are
act
-
ively
involved
in
program
design
and
development.
Through
a
smart
consolidation
of
all
the
different
freight
players
and
elements,
the
program
is
being
devised
as
a
risk-
managed,
fully
GDP
compliant,
comprehensively-insured
freight
platform
for
pharma.
WHY PHARMA COLD-CHAIN REFORM IS NEEDED
Most
of
the
pharma
that
is
currently
going
by
sea
is
of
the
very
low-value
bulk
variety
that
has
always
travelled
this
way.
The
reality
is
that
Pharma's
current
spend
on
sea
freight
is
less
than
12%
of
what
it
is
spending
on
air
freight.
This,
and
many
other
statistics,
suggest
that
the
scope
for
cost
savings
through
converting
more
sea
freight
to
air
freight
remains
positively huge.
One
of
the
reasons
why
there
has
not
been
even
more
transition
from
air
to
sea
is
not
just
down
to
the
low-value
of
the
products
but
also
to
the
relatively
low-volumes
involved
compared
to
perishables
and
other
comparable
reefer
traffic
(pharma
constitutes
just
0.1%
of
line
revenues).
This
means
that
pharma
can
be
of
m,arginal
interest
to
many
big
transporters
and
3PLs,
and
this,
in
turn,
translates
into
a
continuation
of
fragmented
services,
limited
investments
in
infrastructure and a sub-optimal quality of service.
However,
by
consolidating
multiple
shipper
volumes
on
the
primary
sea
lanes
and
by
introducing
LCL
on
the
secondary
lanes,
there
is
ample
scope
to
generate
meaningful
levels
of
profitable
business
for
those
manufacturers
that
are
prepared to work in harmony.
Such a 'horizontal-collaboration' approach makes huge sense because it provides manufacturers with access to:
•
Lower
shipping
rates
through
standardisation
and
aggregated
buying
muscle
(using
a
neutral
trustee
such
as
Poseidon).
•
Much
higher
safety
and
quality
through
standardisation,
better
controls,
more
stable
freight
conditions
and
network
knowledge
sharing.
(Pharma
air
freight
has
a
quality-performance
record
that
would
not
be
tolerated
for
a
nano-second in other industries).
•
A
fast-fix
solution
to
the
pressing
imperative
for
shippers
to
be
much
more
carbon-efficient
(air
freight
emits
50
times more greenhouse gases on a tonne/km basis).
Although
certain
short-shelf-life
pharma
products
will
undoubtedly
always
require
air-freight,
the
typical
high-value
pharma
product,
from
frozen
to
CRT,
can
easily
be
transported
by
refrigerated
reefer;
a
mode
that
is
considerably
safer,
cheaper
and
more
sustainable
than
any
other.
All
that
is
needed
is
an
integrated
approach,
better
planning,
and
an
open
mind.
ABOUT US
INTEGRATED PHARMA OCEAN FREIGHT PROGRAM
HISTORY
Poseidon
came
about
from
a
small
meeting
of
like-minded
individuals
at
the
European
Temperature
Controlled
Logistics
Conference
at
London
in
January
2017.
There
was
consensus
that
for
any
degree
of
wholesale,
across-the-board
improvement
in
the
pharma-cold
chain
there
would
need
to
be
a
more
intimately-alignment
of
the
supply-chain
stakeholders (one of the problems with pharma transportation is the sheer number of hand-offs involved.
Later
that
year
a
number
of
pharmaceutical
companies
were
invited
to
Deloitte
‘Breaking
Barriers’
events
in
Basel
and
Antwerp.
On
both
of
these
occasions
the
audience
was
petitioned
to
collaborate
in
the
creation
of
a
new
genre
of
pharma
coldchain;
one
that
engages
all
key
supply-chain
actors
up-front,
is
predicated
around
structured
collaborative
working
and
is
driven
by
the
pharma
shippers
themselves.
The
reaction
was
very
positive
and
resulted
in
the
Poseidon
integrated
pharma
ocean
freight
program
being
officially
launched
in
February
at
the
2018
European
Temperature
Controlled
Logistics Conference.
Reducing Waste
When
it
comes
to
the
pharma-logistics
pro
-
cess,
accurate
figures
of
product
loss
and
wastage
at
an
industry-
wide
level
are
hard
to
come
by.
However,
according
to
a
recent
estimate
the
pharma
business
“loses
upwards
of
$35bn
per
annum”
solely
as
a
result
of
temperature
ex
-
cursions
and
"30%
of
scrapped
pharmaceutical
can
be
attributed
to
logistics
issues
alone".
Other
sources
conclude
that
around
4%
of
pharmaceut
-
icals
do
not
arrive
at
their
destination
in
usable
condition due to temperature deviations.
Whatever
the
exact
figure
these
are
huge
losses.
For
any
high-tech
business
sector
these
write-offs
would
be
unacceptable
but
for
the
quality-con
-
scious
and
safety-driven
pharma
sector
they
are
nothing
short
of
disastrous.
And
its
a
that
is
likely
tol
escalate
as
the
trend
towards
‘large
molecule’,
biologic medicines gains momentum
.
Fit-for-purpose?
There
is
growing
doubt
amongst
pharma
sup
-
ply-chain
professionals
that
the
conventional
competitive
tendering
(RFQ)
model
for
logist
-
ics
procurement
is
fit-for-purpose
in
the
modern
age.
It
has
long
been
recognised
in
other
quality-
dependent
business
sectors
that
lowest
bid
pro
-
curement rarely delivers optimum value.
To
rely
on
competitive
tendering
will
almost
al
-
ways
incur
hidden
costs
down
the
line
by
which
time
it
can
be
difficult
or
impossible
to
remedy.
Supplier
corner-cutting,
neglect
of
training
and
an
inability
to
invest
in
R&D
are
just
some
of
the
downstream
costs.
(The
recent
KFC/DHL
debacle
in
the
UK
is
testimony
to
what
can
happen
if
the
ramifications
of
cost-cutting
are
not
properly
ascertained).
Sustainability
The
environment
is
not
“some-one
else’s
prob
-
lem”
or
a
“government
problem”.
It’s
every
-
one’s
problem
and
one
that
is
ramping
up
fast
for
future
generations.
This
makes
it
a
moral
im
-
perative
for
all
pharmaceutical
manufacturers
to
minimise
their
carbon
footprint
wherever
pos
-
sible.
One
almost
immediate
way
for
pharmaceutical
manufacturers
to
substantially
reduce
their
envir
-
onmental
footprint
is
to
switch,
wherever
pos
-
sible,
from
air-freight
to
less
eco-damaging
modes
of
transport.
It
is
a
distrurbing
fact
that
much
pharma
product
is
unneccesarily
distrib
-
uted
by
air
freight
despite
the
fact
that
the
air
mode
contributes
in
excess
of
50
times
more
greenhouse
gases
on
a
tonne/km
basis
than
ocean freight.
THE PRESSURE IS ON…
The pharmaceutical logistics field is facing a number of interconnected dilemmas:
Quality issues associated with the transportation of pharmaceuticals and medical biologics.
Regulatory oversight is already very high and this intervention will GROW if distribution quality
does not improve.
The pharma industry is under cost pressures unlike anything it has experienced in the past.
Pharmacos need to reduce their carbon foot print. (Per tonne/km ocean freight produces a
fraction of the CO2 produced by airfreight.
Although
there
are
some
scattered
pockets
of
excellence,
pharma-logistics
is
a
field
that
is
generally
defined
by
poor
performance,
infighting,
cross-functional
silos,
inefficiency
and
a
serious
absence
of
value-add.
The
Poseidon
program
is
a
good fit for any company that is serious about breaking the mould and taking a different approach.