IATA CEIV Pharma: what does it mean for your cold chain packaging?
For those shipping temperature-sensitive products via air freight, IATA CEIV Pharma is the gold standard. But what exactly does this certification entail, and what does it mean for your packaging choice?
What is IATA CEIV Pharma?
CEIV stands for Center of Excellence for Independent Validators. IATA — the international industry organization for aviation — developed this certificate specifically for pharma air freight. Airports, handlers, and airlines that obtain the certificate meet strict requirements for temperature management, training, infrastructure, and procedures.
What do CEIV-certified parties expect from your packaging?
The CEIV certification does not impose specific requirements on the packaging itself, but rather on how the entire chain functions. In practice, this means the following for your packaging:
1. Validated insulation performance
Your packaging must demonstrably maintain the correct temperature under the expected ambient conditions. We provide validation reports documenting how long a specific combination of box, insulation, and coolant keeps the temperature within 2-8 °C at ambient temperatures of 25 °C or -10 °C.
2. Predictable performance
A package that sometimes performs for 36 hours and sometimes 60 hours does not comply. We produce our pharma line with strict tolerance requirements on wall thickness and material weight so that 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 essentially mandatory. We advise on different loggers depending on your requirements — USB reading, real-time, single-use, returnable.
CEIV airports in our region
Schiphol Cargo is CEIV-certified. Other relevant hubs are Frankfurt (FRA), Brussels Cargo (BRU), Heathrow (LHR), and Dubai (DXB). We regularly supply customers who ship via these hubs.
How to get started?
If your company wants to ship pharma by air freight for the first time, we typically go through:
- An intake conversation about your product requirements, transit times, and destinations
- An initial proposal for packaging and cooling 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 conversation with our pharma advisors.
