DHL Global Forwarding (OTCMKTS: DPSGY) has opened a 20,000-square-foot, temperature-controlled facility in Indianapolis that will cater to pharmaceutical and medical product shippers.
The $1.6 million facility has variable temperature capabilities to process all types of pharmaceutical, biotech or medical products that require strict temperature control, the company said.
The Indianapolis facility is one of eight “Certified Life Sciences Stations” that support DHL’s Thermonet service for temperature-controlled airfreight transport. Thermonet uses shipment sensors and an IT platform to provide customers with in-transit temperature visibility.
The site is ideal because many large pharmaceutical companies are located in Indianapolis and it is next to the airport, David Goldberg, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding USA, told American Shipper.
DHL Global Forwarding is exploring the development of a dedicated life science freighter service linking Indianapolis with Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Goldberg said.
He said the ongoing investments by DHL Global Forwarding into its North American life sciences and health care logistics network is timely, since the coronavirus pandemic will likely result in more reshoring of pharmaceutical production to the region.
DHL and other larger third-party logistics companies have invested heavily in logistics services that cater to shippers in the life science and pharmaceutical fields.
Its contract logistics unit, DHL Supply Chain, in mid-July announced a 10-year service agreement with Siemens Healthineers (OTCMKTS: SMMNY) to oversee its product distribution in North America.
Siemens Healthineers will occupy about 260,000 square feet of a 422,000-square-foot, DHL Supply Chain-owned facility in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Click for more FreightWaves/American Shipper articles by Chris Gillis.