UPS expands in Latin America, showcases its Express Critical delivery services

UPS Healthcare Logistics has added a second facility in Colombia (where it has been operating for 11 years), bringing an additional 76,000 sq. ft of warehouse space dedicated to healthcare products distribution. The new facility is near the El Dorado International Airport, on the western side of Bogota, the capital. UPS says that it is cGMP-compliant, including temperature-sensitive storage, and meets the international standards required by INVIMA, the Colombian pharmaceutical products authority.

“Latin America is a vital region for the global healthcare industry,” said Romaine Seguin, UPS Americas region president. “This facility offers greater access to UPS’s first-class logistics solutions for pharmaceutical products and medical devices,” he adds, noting that it is the ninth facility in the Latin American region. Globally, UPS Healthcare Logistics has more than 60 facilities and over 7 million sq. ft. of dedicated capacity.

Meanwhile, UPS has also showcased recent new activity in the US involving the transportation of live organs (for human transplantation) within the US. In part because of new allocation procedures that dictate a wider geographic sharing of donated organs, the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA) organization sought a logistics partner that could better handle deliveries, according to Dan Gagnon, VP marketing, global logistics and distribution. For the past year, KODA has worked with UPS Express Critical, completing 42 deliveries and cutting as much as 5 hours from the delivery cycle (technically, reducing the “average cold ischemic time”).

Gagnon says that previously, KODA depended on next-flight-out courier services, but this is limited by the times during which most airports are open; UPS’ Worldport in Louisville, KY operates 24/7, as do many of the locations served from there. Express Critical features a healthcare support desk where shipment logistics are managed individually and in real time. Express Critical has been operating in the US for several years, and within the past year has been expanded to Europe.