IAG Cargo has officially opened a new 10,000-sqm handling facility at London Heathrow Airport, which will serve as a hub for handling premium loose shipments.

With the ‘New Premia’ facility, IAG expects to see double the amount of cargo it will manage daily. To handle increased capacity, the company has put significant focus on designing IT systems and systems integration to regulate freight movements and allocations.

IAG said the state-of-the-art facility has been designed to handle more cargo as efficiently as possible with 20 ‘break-and-build’ workstations and 11 rapid rise landside doors for faster loading and unloading. The company also introduced four ‘transfer vehicles’.

New Premia features a dedicated Constant Climate Quality Centre for the acceptance and storage of temperature-sensitive cargo like pharmaceutical and life-science products. The temperature-controlled building houses 29 dedicated cool cells and temperature facilities available from +2°C to +8°C (COL), +15°C to +25°C (CRT) and -20°C (FRO). It also has a +15°C to +25°C (CRT) chamber that includes two dedicated break-anbuild workstations.

IAG Cargo said the new facility is certified under the Good Distribution Practice WDA licence issued by the UK Medicines & Healthcare Regulatory Agency.

To prepare for the opening and the transition to a new operations model, IAG Cargo staff underwent targeted training over the last 18 months, and new roles were created, including six new posts for planning managers, who work closely with the operations duty manager, the company noted.