Beijing, China: DHL is to launch a Life Sciences and Healthcare Competence Centre in Beijing, the second of its kind in China.
The burgeoning growth of the global life sciences and healthcare industry should create greater need for cold chain logistics service providers like DHL says Roger Crook, chief executive officer of DHL Global Forwarding and Freight
“Emerging markets are forecasted to contribute approximately 75% to global pharmaceutical sales growth by 2015”.
“The opening of this second Life Sciences and Healthcare Competence Centre in China is a clear testament to the growing demand and opportunity we see in this sector and in Asia Pacific,” says Crook.
“We are also heavily investing in the most promising emerging market region, Asia Pacific, particularly in China, where customers’ needs are becoming more complex.”
The new centre is expected to serve growing Chinese pharmaceutical and biotech companies that require regulatory-compliant cold chain transportation with high security and quality standards.
“It is designed to benefit healthcare clients by helping them reduce the risk of temperature deviation during customs clearance.
The centre’s capabilities would include a specialised, dedicated and trained team, customised standards of procedure for each customer, long-term relationships with airline partners and container providers, as well as 24/7 cargo monitoring.
“These services raise the bar on quality in cold chain logistics services,” says Steve Huang, chief executive officer of DHL global forwarding for China.
“DHL understands how crucial it is to streamline and integrate supply chains in the growing life sciences and healthcare sector,’ he says
China is projected to become the world’s fifth largest pharmaceutical exporter, mainly in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient-related products, and will have the second largest healthcare expenditure in the world by 2015, he says. China’s life science industry is estimated to be worth €55bn.
The opening of the Competence Centre in Beijing followed the July opening of a Life Sciences and Healthcare Competence Centre in Seoul, South Korea, as well as the expansion of the existing centre in Shanghai, opened in 2009.
The launch of the new 140 metres square temperature-controlled warehouse in the Beijing Capital International Airport would bring the total area of DHL Global Forwarding’s temperature-controlled facilities in China to nearly 1,000 metres square.
The new centre would offer life sciences dedicated temperature sensitive storage capabilities with electronic temperature data record keeping and alarm system.
At the same time, DHL would also offer loading and unloading of cool containers, handling of passive packaging, adding and retrieving of data loggers on request, coordinating with select air carriers for proper booking, and organising necessary refrigerated trucks for pick-up or delivery.
