Air, Feature, Forwarding, Freight News, Logistics

Vital medical supplies get the VIP treatment

[ April 3, 2020   //   Chris ]

Global logistics provider, GEFCO, has transported a large shipment of medical supplies on special charter flights from Shanghai to Bratislava to help tackle COVID-19 in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The deliveries took place on 31 March to 1 April 01using two Boeing 787 planes temporarily converted to carry cargo. The aircraft, including passenger accommodation, were loaded with more than 64 tons of medical supplies, including 6 million face masks, 20,000 respirators and 8,000 non-contact thermometers, as well as 60 pallets of vitamins and food supplements.

On arrival, the shipments were unloaded, sorted and palletized by GEFCO at Bratislava Airport for overland distribution to pharmacies and hospitals in the two countries.

Slovakia and the neighbouring Czech Republic are the first two countries in Europe to impose mandatory mask-wearing.

Country Manager, GEFCO Air & Sea, Ladislav Balogh, commented: “These supplies are acutely needed to protect our citizens in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. I’m very proud of my team, who consolidated the cargo from seven different suppliers in China, organised all the export documents and coordinated the dispatch by two charter flights to Bratislava, all in record time. Their safety is of course paramount and we’re doing everything we can to maintain this.”

Tags: GEFCO