As the furor around the availability of Covid-19 vaccines grew late last year, the spotlight quickly turned to the logistics sector and its capabilities in delivering more than ten billion doses under stringent temperature requirements worldwide. Concerns are well-founded, as the bio-pharmaceutical sector reportedly suffers from an estimated USD35 billion loss annually pre-Covid due to failures in temperature-controlled logistics.

DHL Global Forwarding, the air, ocean and road freight specialist of Deutsche Post DHL Group, began certifying its global stations with the IATA CEIV Pharma Standard since 2016 and has recently re-certified its air freight station in Singapore for another year.

The IATA CEIV Pharma Standard, run by International Air Transport Association (IATA), is designed to ensure compliance, standardization, accountability and transparency across the air transport supply chain.

"Singapore is the latest in our Asia Pacific network, along with Japan and China, to receive the IATA CEIV Pharma re-certification. This is especially timely as several countries try to secure Covid-19 vaccines to put a halt to the economic and social impact of the pandemic," said Kelvin Leung, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Asia Pacific.

"As our teams continue to work closely with our customers to deliver these vaccines, we appreciate that the accreditation is not only a quality mark of our service and network, but is equally a recognition of the hard work and dedication of our LSH specialists who work seamlessly across the world to deliver best-in-class logistics services to our customers," he added.

DHL has been actively involved with IATA's continuous efforts to adequately answer to the regulatory demands of the pharmaceutical industry. At each location, IATA examines and compares the station's correspondence to its Temperature Control Regulations (TCR) as well as GDP (Good Distribution Practices) guidelines from the European Union, World Health Organization and other regulatory bodies.

"As the freight forwarder that was involved with bringing in Singapore's first batch of Covid-19 vaccines, DHL Global Forwarding places a huge emphasis on delivering the highest supply chain standards for our LSH customers. The re-certification of the IATA CEIV Pharma on a corporate level and for our air freight station at Changi Airport stands testament to our commitment to support governments and the LSH sector during this crucial recovery period," said Christopher Lim, Managing Director, DHL Global Forwarding Singapore and Malaysia.

Following independent audits by third parties and training courses for employees on site, the DHL Air GxP (good practice) facility in Singapore successfully renewed the quality label by exceeding the usual quality standards for transportation and storage of pharmaceutical goods.