DHL strengthens in China

DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist within Deutsche Post DHL Group, certified its air freight station in Shanghai per the CEIV Pharma Standard of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The CEIV Pharma Certification of the aviation industry's umbrella association attests the highest service and quality standards for life sciences and healthcare customers through uniform processes and a compliant network.

"Over many years, DHL has been actively involved with IATA's continuous efforts to adequately answer to the regulatory demands of the pharmaceutical industry. This standardized approach in the air freight industry means productivity, accuracy, and reliability. All of those lead to product integrity and patient safety," states David Bang, Global Head of DHL Temperature Management Solutions and CEO LifeConEx at DHL Global Forwarding.

DHL started to certify its global stations according to the IATA CEIV Pharma Standard in the third quarter of 2016. Following independent audits by third parties and training courses for employees on site, the DHL Air Thermonet station in Shanghai received the quality label. Thereby DHL Global Forwarding enhances transportation and storage quality levels of pharmaceutical goods and the DHL Air Thermonet station exceeds usual quality standards. Due to its unique cloud-based IT platform LifeTrack, DHL offers more transparency in comparison to conventional offers in the area of temperature-controlled transports. LifeTrack not only ensures shipment tracking but also enables the intervention during the supply process around the clock on 365 days a year. With this quality assurance initiative DHL positions itself as a reliable partner for the transport of structural complex, temperature sensible pharmaceutical products.

"The life sciences and healthcare industry increasingly requires more regulatory control over the years including the transportation and storage of highly-sensitive pharmaceutical goods. Through the IATA CEIV Pharma Certification, DHL further shows its commitment to service quality when it comes to the delivery of these vital and temperature sensitive products," said Steve Huang , CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Greater China.

The location in Shanghai comprises 1,650 square meters, of which 1,405 square meters are available in the air-import warehouse and 245 square meters are available in the air-export warehouse for temperature storage.