DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist of Deutsche Post DHL Group, officially opened a new logistics center for the pharmaceuticals industry in Mörfelden-Walldorf today.

The new competency center is located near the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main airport and serves as a hub for the transport, transport preparation, temporary storage, and transport follow-up of active and passive temperature-controlled pharmaceutical and medicinal products.

“The life sciences and healthcare industry is regulated by increasingly stricter compliance requirements. At the same time, dealing with highly sensitive pharmaceuticals brings new complexity to the supply chain since the products have specific temperature range tolerances and a high value,” stresses Nigel Wing, Global Head Life Sciences & Healthcare, DHL Global Forwarding. “When designing cold chains, ensuring product integrity is at the heart of our solutions. With its strategic location near Frankfurt airport, this new competency center further strengthens our existing temperature-controlled network in Germany and worldwide.”

Temperature control and product safety

In the new logistics center DHL administers a total of 33,000 square meters of warehouse space. Due to the continuous growth in temperature-controlled air freight, DHL Global Forwarding needed a larger facility near Frankfurt. The division established in the logistics center in Mörfelden a 600 square meters competency center with two different temperature-controlled areas. One area is meant for pharmaceutical products that must be stored at constant temperatures between 2 to 8 degrees, while the second one dedicated to a controlled temperature range of between 15 to 25 degrees Celsius. The facilities are equipped with numerous temperature and humidity sensors that immediately sound an alarm should conditions fall outside of established parameters. Furthermore, the center meets the latest safety standards and complies with the new Good Distribution Practice guidelines of the European Union.

“In this new life sciences and healthcare center we will be handling every aspect of transport and warehouse management for our pharmaceuticals customers and their air freight shipments,” says Thilo Specht, Vice President Airfreight Germany, DHL Global Forwarding. “Although our focus in Mörfelden is on customers from the life sciences and healthcare sectors, at the Frankfurt airport we are also coordinating transport solutions for other industries such as automotive, chemical and technology.”

The logistics center will primarily provide DHL Thermonet, the standard product from DHL Global Forwarding for managing temperature sensitive air freight shipments. DHL Thermonet provides seamless temperature visibility along the supply chain, 24/7 proactive monitoring and intervention based on pre-determined touch points and DHL's RFID SmartSensor technology, that is GDP certified.

According to a report published by DHL called “The Smarter Cold Chain: Four essentials every company should adopt”, smarter cold chains must be consistent and robust, incorporating ways of mitigating risk and loss, with strong contingency capabilities and proactive problem-resolution processes. To ensure a smart supply chain for its life sciences and healthcare customers, DHL developed over time a rich product portfolio that caters for all needs and all transport modes.

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