Increasing Demand in the LifeScience and HealthCare Sector

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DHL Freight’s Coldchain services expanded significantly across Europe In a sign of the growing importance of the global Life Sciences and Health Care (LSHC) sector, DHL Freight has further extended its services for temperature-controlled road freight shipments across Europe by opening four additional LSHC Competency Centres in Budapest, Lyon, Madrid and Milan; and all four have received their European Good Distribution Practice (GDP) certification. With this significant expansion, DHL Freight is now able to address the growing demand coming from new LSHC manufacturers in Southern and Eastern Europe. In recent years, temperature-controlled products for the pharmaceutical industry have gained significantly in importance. The driving force is the new European GDP guideline, which puts the transport of temperature-sensitive products under strict compliance requirements. In accordance with the new regulations, the industry is required to transport goods at temperature levels that are registered for storage conditions (‘ship-to-label’). The DHL Freight Coldchain service caters for shipments which need refrigeration (2–8° Celsius) or controlled ambient products (15–25° Celsius). In addition, it offers short lead times, scheduled departures and deliveries, dedicated consultants with expert knowledge and special value-added services such as dedicated Milk-Runs or FTL (full truck load) services. The central routing of cargo takes place via the vast cross-docking center in Mechelen, Belgium. It is the very heart of the Coldchain network and operations and houses 2–8° Celsius and 15–25° Celsius separate storage and cross–dock facilities; separate inbound and outbound areas; and a dedicated in-house IT team. This is where shipments can be further transported under predefined temperature conditions to 30 countries in Europe. The center can also be utilized for de-/consolidation of Ocean Freight shipments and works closely with DHL Global Forwarding LSHC Competence center at BRUCARGO. Another distinct advantage of DHL Freight’s suite of solutions for LSHC products is its use of technology to provide real-time visibility services. Agheera, a fully owned DHL subsidiary, has played a large part in ensuring that cargo is transported and delivered efficiently and to temperature-controlled specifics. Its services include consulting, real-time tracking solutions and primarily telematics data consolidation solutions. In addition, its complete end-to-end real-time tracking offering encompass solutions for assets and shipments on all modes of transport including trucks, trailers, swap bodies and containers. Agheera can also manage customers’ assets and subcontractors, provide speedy report generation, set up customized business rules, consolidate various telematics devices and provide easy-to-read data, temperature graphics and GPS location.

“The level of real-time visibility we achieved together with DHL Freight will enable LSHC customers to manage compliance and product safety proactively, even in multimodal transports and heterogeneous supply chains. This is an innovative example how telematics technology and logistics experience can create a significant added value in our industry.”, says Christoph Keisers, Managing Director of Agheera.
“With our broad portfolio of existing solutions, the value we bring and how we continue doing it is what our customers are looking for”, explains Thomas Ellmann, Vice President LSHC, DHL Freight. “Through our geographical expansion and investment in infrastructure customers recognize that our coldchain network and tailored solutions can cater to their various needs and support their growth aspirations. We are looking to be THE logistics provider for the LSHC sector by 2020. That’s our mission.”

To find out more about DHL Freight’s suite of coldchain solutions for the LSHC sector, please contact Thomas Ellmann,Vice President LSHC, DHL Freight, at thomas.ellmann@dhl.com.