DHL opens first North American 'Life Science Competency Center' in Puerto Rico

Continuing a program that began several years ago, DHL’s Global Forwarding division (US HQ: Plantation, FL) has opened its tenth facility with staff and equipment specific to life sciences logistics, including biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, APIs and biological materials. Additional temperature- and humidity-control equipment will be installed in the 70,000-sq.ft. facility this year, and staff has been trained and certified in the QEP program run by Envirotainer (Lagga Marma, Sweden), a major provider of active and passive temperature-control shipping containers. The facility is also rated for the Dept. of Homeland Security’s C-TPAT program (for anti-terrorist measures) and ISO 9001, according to Angelos Orfanos, president of the life sciences & healthcare unit in DHL Global Customer Solutions.

Despite DHL’s parent company’s withdrawal from U.S. small-package express operations at the end of last year, DHL Global Forwarding, Air Express and Exel supply chain operations continue to be active in the U.S. market, says Orfanos. Besides managing international air or ocean shipping through its own business unit, DHL will use appropriate ground carriers for domestic deliveries. And its LifeConex j.v. (with Luftansa’s air cargo unit) continues to provide value-added shipment-monitoring services to pharma manufacturers.