UPS’ health care unit expands network, adds US cold chain packaging operation

Unit to open freezer farm in Netherlands, establish packaging capabilities in Kentucky

A gloved-hand reaches for vial of a COVID-19 vaccine dose. The distribution of COVID-19 vaccines could begin in mid-December

New UPS Healthcare facility in the Netherlands to have freezer farms to hold vaccines (Photo: iStock)

UPS Healthcare, a unit of UPS Inc. said Tuesday it will add three facilities, two in Europe and one in the United States, to its network of 125 facilities in 34 countries. 

The UPS (NYSE: UPS) unit said it will open a facility in Roermond, the Netherlands, in early 2022 and another in Giessen, Germany, the following December. The Netherlands facility will have freezer farm capacity to store biopharma products — notably COVID-19 vaccines that must be kept at temperatures around minus 70, for distribution throughout Europe. UPS opened a location in the Czech Republic in September.

In addition, the unit will open a facility this March in Mira Loma, California, in Riverside County. The new facility will expand UPS Healthcare’s campus to 213,000 square feet. It is also about 11 miles from the company’s West Coast air hub in Ontario.

The unit plans to expand its operations in Poland next month and in Australia during the second half of 2022.


UPS Healthcare has also opened a cold chain and packaging center at its campus in Louisville, Kentucky, the site of the company’s global air hub known as Worldport. It will be UPS’ first U.S.-based facility to offer reusable cold chain packaging, the company said. Reusable packaging can be utilized multiple times before it is repurposed for other uses.

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