Nairobi Becomes Ninth IATA CEIV Certified Swissport Pharma Center and the First Such Facility in Africa

IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) has certified Swissport’s upgraded cargo warehouse at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO). Swissport is the first globally active air cargo handler to receive the certification for a facility in Africa. CEIV Pharma protects the integrity of pharmaceutical products by ensuring that all facilities, equipment, operations and personnel comply with all applicable standards and regulations expected by pharmaceutical manufacturers.

“We are very pleased to officially open our latest CEIV certified facility for our customers. The certification by IATA reflects our strategic commitment to superior air cargo handling”, says Jeroen de Clercq, Vice President Sub Sahara Africa & Israel and Chief Executive Officer of Swissport Kenya Limited. “The CEIV Pharma standard guarantees air freight customers the highest quality for the transport of sensitive pharmaceutical products.” 

Since the initial opening of the Nairobi logistics center in 2010, Swissport has continuously expanded its on-site offering and now further invested in a state-of-the-art temperature-controlled area with 208 rack positions and a capacity of 250 tons of pharmaceutical shipments. The new Swissport Pharma Center Nairobi is the first of its kind at the airport of the Kenyan capital. Swissport now offers clients an end-to-end cool chain from the delivery of shipments to the warehouse until cargo is loaded into the aircraft. The temperature-controlled area accounts for 13% of the total warehouse space of 10,400 square meters. The dedicated Pharma rooms have temperature ranges of +15 to +25 Celsius as well as +2 to +8 degrees Celsius. Additionally, there is a special cooling unit for goods which require a temperature range of -10 to -20 degrees Celsius.