SAS Cargo has announced that they have signed an agreement with Novo Nordisk to secure capacity to transport life-saving medicines during these highly challenging and unpredictable times.
The relationship between SAS Cargo and Novo Nordisk goes back a long time. When air freight was still in its infancy at the end of the 1960s and Novo Nordisk needed to transport insulin and enzymes quickly and safely around the world, Novo Nordisk turned to SAS who was hailed as the best airline in the world in the 1960s.
These two strong companies with extensive geographical reach from Scandinavia have several things in common. Apart from the core structure and company values being based on the Scandinavian DNA, one key element dominates both companies’ way of doing business: they never compromise on quality. SAS Cargo leads the IATA ranking of air freight quality by continuously maintaining their number one position.
SAS Cargo and Novo Nordisk also have a very strong sustainability agenda in common. SAS has recently invested in a new aircraft fleet – the A350 – which reduces the fuel consumption compared with the aircraft it replaces, leading to reduced carbon emissions by up to 30 percent. The external noise footprint is also reduced by 40 percent. CO2 offset and the option to purchase biofuel are among many other sustainability initiatives that SAS offers their customers. Making every flight, and thereby every cargo flight, more sustainable.
Novo Nordisk has an ambitious program to achieve zero environmental impact. This agreement with SAS Cargo will ensure that Novo Nordisk is one step closer to realizing its Circular for Zero ambitions, as the proportion of biofuel used on its flights is significantly increased.
“We are extremely proud to enter this agreement with one of our most long-standing and loyal partners. We strive for excellence in many areas but transporting life-saving medicines in a safe and reliable way is what we do best. Being based in one of Europe’s strongest life-science clusters, Medicon Valley, has enabled us to gain extensive experience of transporting time- and temperature sensitive products. It’s a great acknowledgement to have one of the largest pharma companies in the world entering an agreement for continuous transport of their most precious shipments”, says Leif Rasmussen, President & CEO, SAS Cargo. “Our pharma product offering means we have special handling procedures and cooling facilities for the most sensitive shipments and being certified by IATA (CEIV certified) guarantees the absolutely highest standard possible”, continues Leif Rasmussen.
“We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with SAS Cargo. It will ensure a safe, reliable and more environmentally friendly transport of our products. And it will provide a distribution setup which ensures that patients worldwide can be assured that – even in times of crisis – they will get their medicine.”, says Rune Sylow, Corporate Vice President of Strategic Sourcing in Novo Nordisk.
