Fraport AG
Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
60547 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
FRA CargoTeam
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Interview with Murat Yildiz The pharmaceutical industry is growing: how the Frankfurt PharmaHub meets the increasing demands
June 27, 2025
Whether it's vaccines, temperature-sensitive medication, or biotech products: at the Frankfurt CargoHub, a carefully coordinated network ensures sensitive pharmaceutical products reach their destinations in a safe and timely manner. In this series, we follow participants throughout the process – from the road, to the handling facility, right through to the aircraft:
Transporting pharmaceuticals is one of the biggest challenges in the air freight industry. While Frankfurt Cargo Services (FCS), the biggest independent, non-airline freight handler at Frankfurt Airport, expects growth of around 1-3 percent for general freight volumes, the company believes 6 percent growth is possible for pharmaceuticals. To meet the needs of this growth, FCS is turning to certified processes, digital documentation, and, above all, a four-fold expansion of storage and transportation capacities. Murat Yildiz is the Manager of Special Handling at FCS with responsibility for this particularly sensitive freight.
Mr. Yildiz, the significance of pharmaceuticals logistics is continuing to increase – how are you noticing this at FCS?
We’re certainly seeing increased demand. Last year, we handled around 11,000 metric tons of what we call temperature-controlled pharmaceutical consignments. This year, we're expecting some 18,000 metric tons. We've therefore developed specific plans to expand our operations.
What do these plans involve exactly?
Currently, we operate two temperature-controlled warehouses with around 700 square meters of space in total – one for the 2-8 degrees Celsius range and one for goods that require temperatures between 15 to 25 degrees Celsius. In addition, we use mobile trailers to transport the freight. These provide us with extra transitional capacities. We're now planning to expand our operations to around 3,000 square meters – all centrally located in our terminal facility. This means we can reduce distances. We’ll also be able to load and unload goods directly within our temperature-controlled facility. And we’ll be able to leave consignments in the cooled area until they are ready to hand over to Fraport, the airport operator.
How safe is the process?
Our processes are already certified under recognized industry standards, ensuring that we maintain the highest standards of quality across all of our procedures. However, the expansion will reduce distances, accelerate processes, and reduce potential handover risks. The shorter the period a consignment remains outside cooling facilities, the better. We want to reduce this “exposure time” even further. It’s also important for us to document very carefully “what happens when”. That's why scanning is used at every step: we record each timestamp and every temperature in our system.
How exactly does this work?
When a vehicle arrives, we first check the temperature of the trailer and the goods. We then have around 45 minutes to carry out all our checks – including X-rays – and to move the consignment into the temperature-controlled area. Digital records are used to document the whole process. This means that we can see at any time later on where and when the medication was located - from acceptance, through to handover to Fraport for delivery on to the apron.
Are there any other challenges in your day-to-day routines?
Yes, particularly at the weekend. When others are just beginning their weekends, it's an especially busy time for us. A large proportion of export consignments are sent out between Friday lunchtime and Saturday morning. On top of this, we also have to deal with issues such as short-notice changes to flight timetables and delays in receiving advance notifications. That’s why we need to be extremely flexible – and indeed we’re here 24/7 for our customers.
These challenges also show how important our local cooperation is. The transportation of pharmaceuticals is a team effort. The airport is a system. Airlines, Fraport, logistics companies all rely upon each other. And it's precisely for this reason that we all work together in the Air Cargo Community Frankfurt, to jointly raise our standards. The pandemic demonstrated how strong the community is. Broken links in this chain do not help anyone.
More information, background, and voices from the Air Cargo Community Frankfurt and the Frankfurt PharmaHub can be found on our website: 
