In previous years everyone’s brows would be furrowing over Black Friday or peak volumes and planning. But 2019 is unique. Pumpkins, witches and vampires are languishing at the back of everyone’s mind. Instead, we’re all preoccupied with the spectral figure of Brexit looming over the near horizon.
The eleventh hour is here; all dice have been cast.
There is a plethora of anxieties encircling the idea of a no-deal Brexit. All industries, but especially healthcare and pharmaceutical entities, are facing extraordinary dimensional problems: space and time. More to the point, we are running out of both.
Back in December 2018, Reuters’ Kate Holton pointed out that “the government has had to request more secure storage for medication to be built after it discovered that an order for all [pharmaceutical manufacturers] to hold six weeks of supply could not be met”. And then, in February 2019, it was illustrated by Pharmaphorum’s Richard Staines that a no-deal Brexit would cause disruption for “at least six months”.
Amid an August 2019 report on ‘No-deal Brexit: 10 ways it could affect you’, the BBC asserted that pharmaceuticals could become scarce and expensive.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47470864
With statistics like this available, you can understand why there is a simmering Brexit nervousness in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
However, with key bodies such as Savills and UKWA reporting a shortage of space, the challenge has driven the more innovative 3PL’s to get creative and find solutions. For those willing to look outside the box there are options. There is space. With less than a month before Great Britain leaves the Bloc, it might feel as if we have run out of time. But amid the clamour and tussle of a sensationalised media, a small voice adopts the good old British mantra: “keep calm”.
Kammac Healthcare Logistics raise their hand
Kammac cut a recognisable figure in logistics. With over 30 years’ experience, predominantly focused in the North West, they have become synonymous with the words “flexible” and “reliable”. However, the impending Brexit shortages are unlikely to be solved by their strong family values alone.
Their younger sibling division, Kammac Healthcare Logistics, boasts the requisite MHRA approval and GDP compliance. Moreover, they can provide emergency warehousing space to alleviate the pressure caused by Brexit stockpiling. At this late stage, their calm and professional influence is welcome.
The Brexit space deficit, just like any other issue surrounding our abandonment of the EU, is a multi-faceted problem. It might seem that claiming to have space and the requisite licences is all well and good. But, Danielle Wykes – Head of New Business, asserts that “Kammac Healthcare Logistics are uniquely placed to offer the support necessary to move and store delicate products. To do so in such a short space of time will require great coordination and versatility.”
A Pragmatic Solution
A versatile approach should be able to assuage, if not quell, the fears that are still expressed by pharmacists. Even at this late stage, according to Carolyn Wickware and Debbie Andalo, “pharmacy bodies question the UK government’s readiness” for a no-deal Brexit. Writing for The Pharmaceutical Journal on the 23rd of September 2019, Wickware asserts that medicine supplies are “particularly vulnerable”. As roughly “three quarters of the UK medicines supply” enters via the EU, there are obvious concerns that extra space cannot mollify.
Again, Kammac Healthcare Logistics provide the versatile storage needed to deliver a pragmatic solution.
The flagship site offers up to 52,000 locations capable of storing both Stand and Euro pallets. Furthermore, with three chambers able to run at different temperature ranges, the site is versatile. Their facilities are fully temperature mapped, and for those of a more reticent demeanour; they wholeheartedly welcome audits.
At this late and turbulent hour, Kammac still offer support and options for those who continue to explore solutions and seek assistance.
We have the space. What about the time?
It is difficult to plan for a Brexit contingency. An agreement could be reached that seriously takes into consideration the critical need for medicines and their distribution. It’s a gamble for many businesses. With less than a month to go without a deal, the negotiating table has not yet been cleared. Without knowing exactly what Brexit will mean for industry and distribution, we are all on the precipice of an uncertain gulf.
Some flexibility is needed then.
Let’s adopt the glass-half-full stance. If a Brexit deal is struck, or a post-Brexit agreement is quickly implemented, then the storage and distribution arrangements of products will shift dramatically. On one hand, we can see stockpiles lasting much longer than anticipated. On the other hand, trade routes might open enabling us to ship medicines back to the EU.
Kammac Healthcare Logistics promise the required flexibility. To help you mitigate risk and reduce costs, Kammac willingly support short term contracts. Resuming the glass-half-full-posture, Kammac can facilitate a short-term solution as easily as long-term European stalemate.
Keep calm: but the time is now
Brexit is a ‘now’ thing. At this point there has been no postponement, no shuffling of dates in the European diary. It may come to pass that Brexit will be a January thing, but we are too close to the wire to consider that now.
There is no company that can offer a full solution to every eventuality. Most companies recognise that getting through a no-deal Brexit is as much about releasing some steam from the pressure valve as it is coming up with cure to every company’s traumas and woes. What is nice to know, is that there is a company like Kammac Healthcare Logistics that can provide some form of cushion.
However, you don’t have to see this a Pearly Gates deal. This isn’t a last resort.
Yes, right now, Kammac are providing an intelligent, versatile and calm suggestion to a problem that is causing disarray across many industries. But, they are still a solution for after the EU-pocalypse has hit Dover.
When all the tumult and tempest has been weathered and survived, Kammac Healthcare Logistics still provide a functional and customer-centred solution.
Even in the best of times.