Havas is a truly Turkish company. Founded in 1958, but with roots dating back to 1933, it was the first company to provide ground-handling services in the Turkey.
Today, Havas renders ground handling services at 28 airports in the country and two airports abroad, which include Riga Airport in Latvia and Madinah Airport in Saudi Arabia.
Staying ahead of the game in 2021, Mete Erna, general manager, explains how Havas are making significant investments in special cargo capabilities. “We want to ensure the highest service quality for this cargo,” he explained to ACW.
To do this, investments have been made in all aspects of operations.
“We provide services at international standards in all our warehouses at Ankara, Izmir and Antalya airports, particularly at our Istanbul Airport warehouse which has been equipped with the state-of-the-art technologies with an investment of €11 million.
“With our reefer trucks in our fleet, we provide cargo transfers from warehouse to warehouse including the perishable cargo delivery through our scheduled road feeder services from Istanbul to Antalya, Ankara and Izmir as part of our customs bonded transportation services.”
GDP certified
Last month Havas were awarded European Union Good Distribution Practices (GDP) certification for their pharmaceuticals and perishable cargos, which require cold storage.
“This ensures the quality standards of the storage and transportation processes of pharmaceuticals and products that require cold storage at our warehouse at Istanbul Airport,” said Erna.
“GDP certificate includes all our processes in the special areas at our warehouse in Istanbul as well as cargo acceptance processes, transportation between warehouses, and loading and shipment operations.”
Vaccine ready
Erna explained that Havas are fully equipped for vaccine transportation, with special freezer units that can cool the cargo to -18 degrees.
“Our facility also includes special areas with capacities of simultaneously working 18 RKN or 9 RKN and 3 RAP containers to be able to store and preserve containers that contain active freezers to transport vaccines.”
“Furthermore, we can preserve the cooling function for the vaccines for longer periods with our external power units. We closely follow the industry trends, especially the methods being developed for vaccine transportation. We will continue to integrate new technologies and applications to our services in this area,” he added.
