The human factor.
When patients are unable to obtain nutrition by mouth, then there is only one solution: tube feeding. People recovering from major surgery, patients in a coma or in the intensive care unit often rely on nutritional supplements administered by feeding tubes. When providing the necessary nutrients, this can be done through enteral nutrition – via the digestive tract – or through parenteral nutrition via an intravenous tube. “Our consignment consisted of enteral nutrition,” Haltmayer explains. “This stabilizes the patient’s weight, keeps him supplied with all the necessary vitamins and ensures a stable intake of food.” Many hospitals in China refuse to leave anything to chance when it comes to the origin of the products they use. “The Chinese trust our customer’s products and the high quality standards upheld by enteral nutrition from Germany,” he says. As a result, Quick Cargo Service has dispatched two charter flights carrying a total volume of 170 metric tons to the Chinese metropolis Shanghai. In order to achieve the maximum utilization on the flights, QCS and Lufthansa Cargo provided the original consignor with the freighter’s exact measurements and capacity so that the shipment could be optimally packaged in the plant. “It is always satisfying when the cooperation between all partners along the supply chain works so well,” says Haltmayer, as he watches his first Lufthansa Cargo full charter take to the skies.
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Reason enough for the QCS Managing Director, Stephan Haltmayer, to personally supervise the loading and takeoff. “This charter was a real challenge,” says Haltmayer. “Perfect temperature control doesn’t always mean that the freight needs to be cooled down. With the weather outside at just around freezing, it was important to keep our sensitive consignment at a constant temperature.” Nutritional supplements can only tolerate temperatures between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius; otherwise their quality deteriorates. An additional challenge was the sheer volume of the consignment. |
100 metric tons in one go – that’s exceptional even for the most experienced logistics manager. Everything had to be transshipped at the same time and at just the right temperature. Thanks to perfect planning and preparation by QCS and customer team 2 at Frankfurt as well as the charter colleagues at Lufthansa Cargo, the entire process – from delivery to the Lufthansa Cargo Cool Center over security scanning right up to loading – took only a few hours. “Knowing that this consignment can save lives simply increases the pressure,” says Haltmayer. “Absolutely nothing is allowed to go wrong!” |
Photos:
Stefan Wildhirt / iStock