Bio Transport

Mark: Hi, it's Mark from Top Local. I'm here with Mark Huggan, Phantom Couriers in Vancouver. Vancouver's best couriers, fastest growing. One of the fastest growing companies in British Columbia and in Canada, frankly, they are expanding right across the country. We're gonna talk about shipping stuff. How are you doing today, Mark?

Mark H: We're doing good. Thanks. How are you? 

Mark: Good. So Phantom Couriers is now bio transportation certified. What does that mean? 

Mark H: Well, it's just a bunch of paperwork, but, you know, it's this regulation stuff, but it was for a big account that we got that just needs excellent management for the next two years for some medical sampling and testing.

So it goes across Canada makes three stops, dips into the United States and then heads over to Europe every day, seven days a week with return shipping. So picking up these samples from hospitals and universities, flying them out to Europe, where in Germany, that's where, other countries are sending them there too. This is the North America and the one city in the States Minneapolis. And off we go. So it's a big deal. 

We just had to fill out some paperwork, answer a million questions, be legit, know what we're doing, and you know, we've been in business 25 years. So that helped us a lot because there's a lot of startups out there. And with 25 years experience. And being in the freight forwarding business before courier, it really gave us a leg up on just understanding what they needed. So we heard what they needed and we were able to rise to the occasion. It's good. It's really a big step. It's a good thing for us. 

Mark: So do you think this is going to help you a little bit since we're in the middle of COVID still, when there's vaccines around and they've got to be distributed to, you know, 8 billion plus people.

Mark H: Well, I hope so. I mean, there's going to be a lot of last mile. That's going to be really, you know, necessary, just from what we've experienced with PPE distribution. That when there's vaccines, I mean, how much better is that going to be? So we're already embedded in that logistics infrastructure for everybody that has the PPU, which are people treating or people at risk.

So vaccines are gonna head to them first and with our niche, what we've got, we're able to handle it and deliver on time, which I think is going to be very helpful for when there is a vaccine. It will be distributed quickly. And the people that need it will get it. There won't be any waiting.

Mark: Right. So you guys do a bunch of other bio transportation stuff already. Give me some examples of that. 

Mark H: Well you know, everybody's favorite bio is a Botox, you know, there's a lot of it that's for strictly cosmetic and there's a lot of it that's for surgeons. So we move a lot of it to the Diamond Center on Laurel Street for VGH. Lots of doctors in there are using it for whatever. They treat a million things with Botox more than we just know. So, you know, I didn't really ask what you're doing with it, but it's live cultured in Richmond. And it has a short, short life. So cosmetic Botox, they might inject it in a few days later it activates as the poisons affected your body and you swell.

And the other kind of Botox affects differently and it has a short half life. So it needs to be administered very quickly because it is a toxin. So if it's past its time, it's not going to be used on the person and it has to be destroyed. Expensive. And, or it's a total waste, right? So it's very expensive and important thing. It's really big time. 

And then there's a lot of people, you know, we distribute medicines, like hepatitis. There's a lot of medicine going out for hepatitis and people are happy to have it. It changes their lives for the better. And a lot of it is also life cultured. And we have to get that on a certain amount of time. And it can't be, the temperature has to stay the same. So we have to have it checked before it can be delivered. Like there's a thermometers on the box. And if they're not within a range, forget it. It's like, you know, that can't be done. So luckily we're always nailing that. 

For the BC CDC, we're doing lots of, like vaccines and stuff to go for all sorts of things that the human has come in contact with for the last couple of hundred years. There's all sorts of illnesses out there that are treatable and rural areas have to get them. And they're often temperature controlled. So we have to keep them at a specific temperature, get them on the plane, identify them that they need to be kept at a certain temperature for the airlines. Then when they're put on the last mile, and we're out in Bella, Bella, Bella Coola. Atlin, our couriers and or our partners are all up to speed on them. And it's super important. 

And a lot of times we just deal straight with the clinic, tell them our flight info, and they've got a nurse or a doctor or a practitioner down there to meet the plane because it's like, get it, go now. 

So it's a lot of like last minute logistics where you gotta be on top of it. You might have to stay late at work that day, but it's getting the job done. And that's what we do. 

Mark: And that's that specialization of the rigorous checks and balances and systems that you guys had in place after 25 years of being able to know exactly where stuff is when it's there, that you've been checked properly and getting it there on time.

Mark H: When you take responsibility for something like that, you just don't put down the phone and go for coffee. You have to watch it all the way, because you know, you take your eye off the ball and that's when it goes crazy. You don't want that to happen? It's hard to undo those mistakes. So you want to keep them from happening all the way. So you really have to watch that a hundred percent. There's no automation and things like that. It's hands on you experience that makes it happen. You know, it's a touchdown. It doesn't happen by computer.

Mark: If you need stuff on time, on delivery, that's critical. That has to be checked. That has you want systems in place so that your stuff, your deliveries, get there on time in Vancouver, in Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast, right across the Toronto. Phantom Couriers. You can reach them at (604) 899-5447 in BC or across Canada, +1 844-899-5447. Any package anywhere?

Mark H: Phantom Couriers gets it there. You got it.