OREANDA-NEWS. DHL Freight, the road freight specialist within Deutsche Post DHL Group, integrates three additional certified Life Sciences & Healthcare Competency Centers to its LTL (less than truckload) ColdChain network. With new stations in Lyon, Milan and Madrid, DHL is further extending its services for temperature controlled road freight shipments across Europe.

Targeting the life sciences and healthcare industry, an integrated 'Solution Suite' offers services specifically tailored for these customers' needs, as well as an IT platform, CoolTrack that allows continuous monitoring and real-time tracking of cargo temperature via GPS.

"Our customers in the life sciences and healthcare sector are looking for better ways to manage the risk of product damage and loss from temperature deviations in increasingly long and diverse supply chains. With DHL's pan-European LTL ColdChain network we are embedding the new standard for cold-chain road freight transport further into Europe", says Amadou Diallo, CEO DHL Freight.

The dock centers in Milan, Lyon and Madrid have been added to the network in the course of the last month. The first two are certified against the European Good Distribution Practice (GDP), while the competency center in Madrid is being currently audited and will receive its GDP certification shortly. The next competency center in Budapest will be added to the network within the next couple of weeks. With this network expansion, DHL Freight addresses the growing demand coming from new life sciences and healthcare manufacturers in Southern and Eastern Europe.

DHL's ColdChain service runs twice a week according to a schedule. The central routing of cargo takes place via the cross-docking center in Mechelen (Belgium) from where shipments can be further transported under predefined temperature conditions (2-8° Celsius or 15-25° Celsius) to 30 countries in Europe.

Dock centers in Milan, Lyon and Madrid have been added to the network

"With the further expansion of our ColdChain network into Southern and Eastern Europe, we address the increasing demand of the new and upcoming manufacturing companies in the region," said Thomas Ellmann, Vice President Life Sciences& Healthcare, DHL Freight. "Customers recognize that our cold-chain network and tailored solutions can support their growth aspirations and at the same time cater for their various needs."

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').

DHL ColdChain provides seamless temperature visibility along the supply chain, 24/7 proactive monitoring, that is GDP certified. Temperature data and logistics events can be accessed via the 'CoolTrack' IT platform, facilitating early intervention and simplifying document control. The IT platform is provided by Agheera, a DHL Freight sister company that is specialized in the area of Telematics and Big Data.

Due to many factors that need to be considered when transporting temperature sensitive products, there is no 'one-size-fits-all' in pharmacy distribution. To cater for the specific requirements of its life sciences and healthcare customers, DHL Freight is constantly developing services and solutions that offer customers a high level of flexibility. DHL Freight's 'Solution Suite' provides, for example, dedicated services for high value transports and/ or especially short lead time requirements.

DHL Freight's temperature-controlled road freight network is connected seamlessly with other modes of transport, such as rail, air or ocean freight and therewith offers customers, in cooperation with DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Supply Chain, integrated and cost efficient solutions.