Imperial beats the crunch with ten charters from China to South Africa

The logistics service provider supports the health system in Africa by transporting test kits for the public health departments in several cities across the continent

Imperial – a Cooperative member in Malmo, Shanghai and Zurich – has beaten the airfreight capacity crunch with 10 charters of COVID-19 test kits and PPE destined for South Africa.

The project totalling 2,868.19 cbm, and comprising protective gowns, goggles, masks and testing kits – was flown to Johannesburg on one flight from Beijing, one from Guangzhou and eight from Shanghai. Imperial used freighter aircraft of Etihad Cargo, Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and South African Airways Cargo.

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Cooperative member in Malmo, Imperial beats the airfreight capacity crunch with 10 charters of COVID-19 test kits

The Imperial team sending out time critical, cold chain shipments from China to several countries

Joshua McLarin, Managing Director of Imperial in China, says: “Since the pandemic started, our team has successfully executed many projects involving the shipment of PPE and testing kits.”

“We have faced many challenges along the way including extreme urgency, frequent lead time deviations, delays due to physical inspections by customs authorities, constantly changing export regulations, severe shortages of airfreight capacity and containers, and flight delays. Warehouses and airport terminals have also been extremely congested, complicating urgent deliveries to handlers.”

“In spite of all this, by working around the clock and leveraging all our experience and contacts, we have ensured that the shipments reached their destinations – typically local hospitals and government departments – within the required deadlines”.

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Congratulations to Imperial and all the best for their upcoming projects!