Apr 04, 2017: DHL station in Leipzig receives IATA CEIV Pharma Certification for life sciences and healthcare compliance

DHL Global Forwarding certified its air freight station in Leipzig according to 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.

'For years the number of regulations and requirements has been increasing in the life sciences and healthcare industry also with regards to transportation and storage. We at DHL place great emphasis on improving our service quality and demonstrate through IATA CEIV Pharma Certification, that we are the right partner for transporting vital and temperature sensitive products,' states Thilo Specht, Vice President Airfreight Germany, 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 Leipzig 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 location in Leipzig comprises 2,760 square meters, of which 232 square meters are available for the temperature span between +2 and +8 degrees Celsius and 265 square meters between +15 and +25 degrees Celsius.

'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.

At each location, the umbrella association IATA examines the station's correspondence to the Temperature Control Regulations (TCR), the GDP (Good DistributionPractices) guidelines of the European Union, the Annex 5 of the World Health Organization and the United States Pharmacopeia Standards. Apart from this they also set the industry standard for the transportation of dangerous goods and live animals in addition to sensitive pharmaceutical products.

With its international network, DHL offers at all of its Air Thermonet locations a wide-ranging product portfolio, covering all client needs for time and temperature sensitive airfreight shipments. Thereby DHL has successfully established itself as the market leader for logistics solutions in the life sciences and healthcare industry.