DHL begins weather- proof transport service

Providing a boon to the pharmaceutical industry, leading express and logistics provider DHL has introduced a globally integrated transportation of temperature-sensitive material, including drugs, in India.

The solution, LifeConEx, will provide door-to-door transportation of temperature-sensitive material by integrating the service of an airline, ground handler and a forwarder, said Robert M Krautheim, President, Life sciences and Healthcare Global, DHL.

LifeConEx is a partnership between DHL Global Forwarding and Lufthansa Cargo that was established last year.

"LifeConEx is used by some of the leading pharmaceutical companies globally. It will now be offered to companies in India as we have got a localised offering to meet Indian conditions," DHL Global Forwarding CEO, Christoph Remund, said.

"Our partnership with Lufthansa Cargo enables us to leverage their network and maintain the temperature needs of the product even while it is in air or in transit," he added.

In India, the JV company has tied up with various ground handling companies including Air India to offer the service in three airports - Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

Since India exports drugs to over 65 countries, studies indicate that a quarter of all temperature-sensitive vital pharmaceutical drugs that are transported by air, fail to give desired results.