go to Website
Mediaroom Customers Journalists
Watchlist (0)
back

DACHSER Life Science and Healthcare receives GDP certification

The logistics provider has undergone good distribution practice (GDP) audits at its sites in Frankfurt, Madrid, Barcelona, and Mumbai, as well as at the Head Office in Kempten. An independent institute certified that DACHSER complies with the specifications relating to safe and secure transport chains in the pharmaceutical sector.

Life science and healthcare products are subject to strict requirements during transport, storage, and handling.

With the good distribution practice (GDP) certification, an external authority has vouched for DACHSER’s compliance with strict quality criteria as well as its performance in the field of life science and healthcare logistics. The logistics provider is receiving the certificate for its global quality management system and its strategic locations in Germany, Spain, and India. This certificate verifies that shipments in DACHSER’s Life Science and Healthcare network are handled in accordance with EU regulations.

Life science and healthcare products are subject to strict requirements during transport, storage, and handling. There are extensive regulations to observe, and customer, legal, and product specifications must be met. Medication, vaccines, and other pharmaceuticals are often temperature- and time-sensitive shipments that require GDP compliance. As an acknowledged industry standard, GDP-compliant certification attests to the safe handling and proper transportation of these products. “This certification is a mark of quality for our global DACHSER Life Science and Healthcare network,” says Timo Stroh, Head of Global Air Freight at DACHSER. “In this way, we do our part to ensure safe and secure supply chains for our customers in the life science and healthcare industry.”

Strict requirements

The certification process consists of several audits conducted by an independent party. These audits evaluate quality aspects such as standard handling procedures, temperature-controlled life science and healthcare shipments, external and internal training, and risk management.

“The GDP compliance certification in Mumbai, Madrid, Barcelona, and Frankfurt marks the beginning of the certification process for all strategic locations involved in the handling and transport of life science and healthcare products at DACHSER. We pursue a quality-driven strategy to maintain the integrity of these sensitive goods throughout the entire transport chain, all the way to the patient,” says Netka Hohlfeld, Department Head Life Science and Healthcare Logistics at DACHSER.

In addition to GDP compliance certification, DACHSER also has IATA CEIV Pharma certification for its sites in Frankfurt, in Atlanta (US), in Mumbai and Hyderabad (India), and in Shanghai (China).

DACHSER worldwide
Contact us
Bookmark article
Share article
Contact Ali Mahboob Digital Communications Manager Asia Pacific
+91 022 42328-247 mahboob.ali@dachser.com

You might also be interested in

04/17/2024
DACHSER & Fercam Italia gathers pace 
Effective March 28, 2024, DACHSER has acquired 80 percent of the shares in the joint venture DACHSER & Fercam Italia. This completes its acquisition of the majority of the groupage and contract logistics divisions of the Italian logistics company Fercam.  
Read
04/14/2021
Customer confidence strengthened: DACHSER is satisfied with the year´s results

DACHSER can look back on a successful 2020, which was characterized by the loyalty and climate of mutual trust between the logistics provider, its customers, and its transport partners. DACHSER’s consolidated net revenue totaled EUR 5.61 billion, a slight decrease of 0.9 percent compared to the previous year.

Read
05/12/2023
DACHSER to establish a joint venture in Japan

DACHSER has signed a joint venture agreement with the Japanese logistics company Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co., Ltd. “DACHSER Japan K.K.” will open its first office in Tokyo at the end of 2023.

Read
09/09/2021
Sea Freight: Current situation in the USA

The existing bottlenecks in the US ocean freight market, which are lasting for quite some months already, will continue for a longer period. We would like to give you an overview of the current situation.

Port and rail congestion

Already for months, the USA is experiencing historical congestions in sea freight business. The reason for this ongoing situation is well known: COVID-19 impacts and a high volume demand creating bottlenecks at all major ports and terminals throughout the country. Port and rail operators are operating with reduced staff, which delays loading and unloading of vessels, increases dwell time and slows down transportation processes to the terminals. Ocean Carriers are also overwhelmed with the situation and struggle to provide the needed service and timely response. Ocean vessels are having several days of delay and we experience port omissions on a regular basis. Schedule integrity remains almost non-existent.

US trucking situation

Trucking companies suffered heavily at the beginning of COVID-19 and were forced to let go many of their drivers due to the drop of volume and demand. Then, the boom of freight and demand hit the US market and at this point, not enough drivers were available. The driver situation improved over the last months but the current trucking fleet does still not cover the strong demand. Truckers are overbooked for the next 3-5 weeks. To accelerate the pick-ups and deliveries, LTL and FTL can be an option to arrange transloads into/from containers at designated warehouses.

Chassis in the US

It becomes a great challenge that almost all containers are stuck somewhere on chassis, waiting for transport. That leads to the problem that empty chassis are hardly available to arrange a pick up. Chassis are fully used and become a rare commodity in the US.

US inbound freight

The ports and rail terminals infrastructure in the US is simply overwhelmed by the current import volume. Inbound containers are parked on certain spots to make room for the new vessel / train loadings. In many cases, these "parking lots" are completely overstocked and containers are buried and not available for immediate hand over. In order to arrange a pick-up, the terminal provides appointments to truckers ONLY once the container is available and customs released - which can take days and even weeks in many cases.

US outbound freight

The main challenge is to find the desperately needed container equipment as well as the chassis for the transport. Ports and rail terminals are also full of export containers and the stations are not simply accepting export loads that easily. The situation is tight and almost every shipment is experiencing severe delays.

Outlook

We estimate that the situation in the US will not improve this year. Even 2022 will continue to be challenging but the team of DACHSER is aiming to provide our clients a good service and solutions despite the challenging times in the USA.

High Priority Cargo

Currently, it is possible to achieve better transit times and shorter turnaround times at the US terminals by using LCL services for prioritized shipments instead of FCL services. DACHSER operates regular premium LCL services on both ex-Asia and Europe trade lanes. Transit times ex China, for example, are even shortened from overall 28 to 18 days. And further, new pipeline services including Atlanta and Los Angeles aim to reduce booking windows immensely. The continuing tight situation in the US ocean freight market will also require that desperately needed freight will have to be loaded more often by air. DACHSER offers regular premium capacity with its own Air Network, for example with weekly connections on the Frankfurt - Chicago route in both directions and the option of connecting to other US airports.

We are in close contact with carriers and service providers on a daily basis and do our best to make your supply chain as smooth as possible. For individual advice, please contact your local representative of DACHSER so that we can implement the best logistics solution for you.

Read