DHL and Octapharma open cold-chain logistics centre in Germany
According to Raluca Witowski, a spokesperson for DHL Global Forwarding (DGF) - the air and ocean freight wing of Deutsche Post DHL - the site already has around 350 customers but the 550m2 GDP-certified facility which opened its doors yesterday offers the transportation and warehousing of active and passive temperature controlled products.
The Centre, located in Leipzig, Germany, was developed in part by the biopharma company Octapharma. The Switzerland-based blood plasma manufacturer is one of DGF’s “key customers,” Witowski told us, and Octapharma’s involvement came due to needing a logistics partner in the proximity of their own facility in Dessau, 50 km away from the new facility.
However, the Centre will also bring benefit to other firms in the life science and healthcare industries. “The strategic location of the Centre connects seamlessly into the worldwide airfreight network of 150 life science and healthcare stations in 25 countries, offering great opportunities for customers,” Witowski added.
Cold-Chain security
The Leipzig plant creates 30 new jobs and forms part of the DHL Thermonet, a network formed in 2013 which uses DHL’s SmartSensor RFID technology to constantly monitor temperatures of shipments in transit.
The importance of ensuring temperature control during the movement of drugs was recently highlighted when Phase III trial results of Ampio Biopharmaceuticals’ lead candidate Ampion were delayed due to trial material being damaged when shipping temperatures fell below the 15°C minimum required. The firms share price fell 19% following the announcement.
“Providing quality service to life-saving products is a big responsibility, and temperature-control is therefore a critical point in the logistics chain,” Witowski said. “The pharmaceutical products have to be transported quickly, safely and in a stable, temperature-controlled environment to the customers.”
DGF, which was not the logistics firm implicated in the Ampio case, is therefore providing two temperature controlled areas at the new site, one for pharmaceutical products that must be kept at a constant temperature between 2 to 8 degrees and a second area for temperature between 15 to 25 degrees.
“The facilities are equipped with numerous temperature and humidity sensors that immediately sound an alarm should conditions fall outside of established parameters. The centre also has a loading/ unloading area where the temperature is maintained at 15°C.”
