Frankfurt facility becomes Panalpina's 38th GDP certified centre

August 14, 2019: Panalpina's newly opened Healthcare Logistics Center in Weiterstadt near Frankfurt/Main has obtained good distribution practice (GDP) certification. This brings its certified locations to 38.

The new facility is close to Frankfurt/Main international airport, but more crucially, also very well-connected to major highways and Germany's federal road infrastructure. This allows customers to shorten lead times for intra-European and global shipments coming through this region. Typical healthcare shipments could go from Frankfurt to Sydney by air freight, or from Frankfurt via Antwerp to the USA by ocean freight.

The facility is Panalpina's third in the Rhein-Main region alongside Moerfelden and Neu-Isenburg.

The facility has successfully passed an audit by the world's leading inspection, verification, testing, and certification company SGS, and is now certified according to EU GDP. It is equipped for hub services for multimodal transport, including last-mile delivery, and linked to Panalpina's global network that offers temperature-controlled air and ocean freight solutions. In ocean freight, Panalpina uses reefer containers for both less than container load (LCL) and full container load (FCL). Several healthcare customers have confirmed that they wish to use the Frankfurt/Main facility for diverse activities including passive packaging preparation, cargo consolidation, and long-term storage.

Volker Werner, Panalpina's district manager, Central Germany, said, "The facility is not only set up for multimodal transport; we have fully equipped it to meet all possible requirements of our pharma customers. Besides thermos-cover handling, re-icing and gel-pack handling, we can also take care of the temperature-controlled last-mile delivery, with 24-hour monitoring of the cargo."

About 4,500 square metre of temperature-controlled warehouse space of the Frankfurt/Main facility is dedicated to healthcare customers; another 4,600 square metre is for multi-purpose use, while an additional 620 square metre for office space. Of the healthcare-dedicated part, 3,500 square metre cover temperatures from 15C to 25C, with three dedicated truck docks, and 1,000 square metre cover temperatures from 2C to 8C, with two dedicated truck docks. The warehouse has more than 6,000 pallet locations, an X-ray machine in the temperature-controlled area, and is able to handle dangerous goods.

Stephen Kay, regional manager for Panalpina's Healthcare industry vertical, stated, "In combination with Panalpina's other European centers of excellence, we have a highly flexible set-up, where we can move products to every continent by air or ocean freight and using either active or passive cooling. Based on the customers' requirements, we can also choose between commercial carriers or the Panalpina Charter Network with its main hub in nearby Luxembourg."