Staying completely cool
Nippon Express (NE), a Japanese logistics services provider with global operations, is expanding its network of GDP-certified sites. With its home continent already well covered, it is making Europe a focal point of its pharmaceuticals logistics activities this year.
China, India, Cambodia, are three major Asian (pharmaceuticals) markets in which Nippon Express has launched a number of activities over the past few months.
The first step in March saw Nippon Express (Cambodia) certified according to GDP standards for its domestic transport services. The Southeast Asian country is largely dependent on imported medicines for its hospitals. There is, however, a dearth of transport services providers with refrigerated vehicles and reefer storage facilities that conform to the relevant regulations. NE Cambodia now promises to fill these gaps through its Phnom Penh logistics centre. It first opened in 2019 and since April this year it has offered special warehousing services for medical equipment and medicines used in Japanese hospitals in Cambodia.
Large hinterlands
NE has chosen a different path in China. At the end of May it signed a memorandum of understanding for commercial cooperation with Shengsheng Logistics. A subsidiary of the Shanghai-based logistician, which offers bio-pharmaceutical transport services, amongst other options, will design and manufacture insulated dispatch cartons, which will be supplied to pharmaceuticals producers worldwide.
NE China is planning to develop consolidated dispatch services for temperature-controlled sea freight with Shengsheng, amongst many other things. NE India, in turn, has added three sites to its existing Hyderabad airfreight hub, which has been certified according to GDP standards since 2019. The Japanese company’s centres in Ahmedabad, Delhi and Mumbai are also comprehensively certified to offer safe and top-quality pharmaceutical transport solutions. At the end of June NE said that in future it will further expand its network in other regions.
The fact that NE’s services aren’t limited to Asia was nicely illustrated in July, with the announcement that NE warehouses at two of Europe’s largest airports are also GDP certified. One is the 100 m2 temperature-controlled facility operated by NE France at Paris CDG airport; and the other one a new centre run by NE Italy in Lainate, around 30 km southeast of the Milan MXP gateway. They are both equipped to handle goods that need to be stored at temperatures of 2–8°C (20 m2) and 15–25°C (470 m2).
