British Airways World Cargo is first European cargo carrier to be awarded Quality Envirotainer Provider (QEP) Accreditation

British Airways World Cargo has today announced that it is the first European airline to be accredited by leading provider of temperature-controlled air cargo containers Envirotainer, as a Qualified Envirotainer Provider (QEP) for Constant Climate, its temperature-controlled product for pharmaceuticals.

Envirotainer, pioneer of the ‘active’ temperature-controlled air cargo container, developed its QEP/CEP Training and Quality Program, following consultation with shippers and in response to industry guidance. The program is designed to help healthcare companies identify service providers capable of properly managing shipments using Envirotainer containers.

Five British Airways World Cargo Constant Climate stations - London Heathrow, Rome, New York JFK, Tel Aviv and Hyderabad – have now been accredited under the QEP program with plans for future accreditations across all 60 Constant Climate stations, marking the carriers long term commitment to ongoing quality management systems.

Accreditation as a Qualified Envirotainer Provider (QEP) demonstrates that a service provider meets the obligations as defined in current Good Distribution Practices guidance documents and is awarded following a thorough audit by Envirotainer.

Johan Nordenberg, Envirotainer’s Healthcare Sales and Cold Chain Management Director, said: “Our QEP/CEP Training and Quality Program is offered to companies that use our containers as a way to optimise the value they achieve from Envirotainer’s products. When a major carrier such as British Airways World Cargo makes a commitment to QEP and subsequently gains Accreditation it sends a strong signal to their logistics and healthcare customers about their determination to maintain the quality and integrity of their products while in their care. The margin for error when transporting highly sensitive pharmaceutical products is so small that embracing QEP/CEP Accreditation is a clear sign of a supplier’s quality and capability.”

Stuart Forsyth, global product manager, BA World Cargo commented: “Since we launched Constant Climate in July 2006 we have been committed to delivering Good Distribution Practice and we are delighted to have now achieved QEP Accreditation. This has been achieved through significant effort in procedure development, conformance, audit and training, as well as a proven track record in handling temperature sensitive pharmaceutical shipments within the Constant Climate service. We plan to extend our quality management procedures across our entire Constant Climate network and we are confident that our product and service will continue to deliver significant benefits to pharmaceutical logistics suppliers.”