IATA CEIV Pharma: What Does It Mean for Your Cold Chain Packaging?
Short answer: IATA CEIV Pharma is the air cargo certification for pharma handling. It does not set direct requirements for the packaging itself, but in practice CEIV-certified supply chains expect four things from your cold chain packaging: validated insulation performance (with test report), predictable, consistent performance, documentation and traceability per shipment, and a data logger in every shipment.
For anyone shipping temperature-sensitive products by air cargo, IATA CEIV Pharma is the gold standard. But what exactly does this certification involve, and what does it mean for your choice of packaging?
What is IATA CEIV Pharma?
CEIV stands for Center of Excellence for Independent Validators. IATA — the international trade association for aviation — developed this certificate specifically for pharma air cargo. Airports, handlers and airlines that achieve the certificate meet strict requirements for temperature control, training, infrastructure and procedures.
What do CEIV-certified parties expect from your packaging?
CEIV certification does not impose specific requirements on the packaging itself, but it does apply to how the supply chain functions as a whole. In practice, this means your packaging needs to provide the following:
1. Validated insulation performance
Your packaging must demonstrably be able to maintain the correct temperature under the expected ambient conditions. We provide validation reports documenting how long a specific combination of box, insulation and coolant maintains the temperature within 2-8 °C at an ambient temperature of 25 °C or -10 °C.
2. Predictable performance
Packaging that sometimes performs for 36 hours and sometimes for 60 hours is not acceptable. We manufacture our pharma line with strict tolerance requirements for wall thickness and material weight, so every box performs consistently.
3. Documentation and traceability
For each shipment, it must be clear which packaging was used, when the coolant was pre-cooled, and what the temperature history was. We provide documentation and barcoded labels for traceability.
4. Temperature monitoring
A data logger in the shipment is effectively mandatory. We advise on different loggers depending on your requirements — USB readout, real-time, single-use or returnable.
CEIV airports in our region
Schiphol Cargo is CEIV-certified. Other relevant hubs include Frankfurt (FRA), Brussels Cargo (BRU), Heathrow (LHR) and Dubai (DXB). We regularly supply customers shipping via these hubs.
How to get started?
If your company wants to ship pharma by air cargo for the first time, we typically go through:
- An intake discussion about your product requirements, transit times and destinations
- An initial proposal for packaging and coolant configuration
- A test shipment with data loggers and temperature analysis
- Documentation and standard operating procedures for your freight forwarder
Call +31 (0) 255 234 200 for a no-obligation consultation with our pharma advisors.
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