Kuehne+Nagel and GSK, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, kicked off their first joint multimodal operation in South America, departing from the Regional Distribution Center in Montevideo (Uruguay). This is the first shipment of more than 12 million of various types of vaccine doses, which will be distributed each year as part of this alliance within the region.
Healthcare logistics is characterised by the most demanding regulatory standards, e.g., temperature-controlled cargo has to be monitored 24 hours a day. In addition, with operations in more than 100 countries, Kuehne+Nagel offers agile processes regarding multimodal connections. In this case, the coordination with the offices in Europe made the difference. This vaccine shipment departed from the port of Livorno (Italy) and was shipped by vessel to Montevideo (Uruguay), from where two exclusive charter flights took the goods to Brazil. In addition, the regional distribution includes road transport to other countries.
“With GSK, we share a vision where quality and compliance with the highest standards are a core requirement for healthcare logistics. This does not only motivate us to develop new technologies, but also to constantly innovate and guarantee the quality of our services.”
Adriana Arnold, Regional Industry Champion Healthcare at Kuehne+Nagel
GSK selected Kuehne+Nagel as a partner due to its strength in the sector, its expertise in end-to-end logistics services with multimodal solutions, and the consolidation of its three specialized healthcare logistics hubs: In Chile, with a 17,600 m2 area for the storage and distribution of temperature-sensitive goods, in Panama with 3,000 m2, and in Uruguay, from where it supplies medicines and now also vaccines to more than 40 million Latin Americans.
