New logistics player in European pharma
pharma scene after NYK Logistics in Belgium was granted a
certification for this industry.
The firm now has a good distribution practice (GDP) license for its Antwerp warehouse and is now able to offer contract logistics, storage and distribution, as well as secondary repackaging services for pharmaceuticals. The company said it can serve both the domestic and the European pharma industry (including the UK), via cooperation with its affiliate NYK Logistics UK, which has also three GDP licensed facilities, and contracts with drug makers including AstraZeneca, and has an already-established pan-European pharma-specific distribution channel. "We are able to offer customers a 'one stop shop' under the same name instead of them having to use different companies for their supply chain needs," a spokesperson from the Development department at NYK Belgium, Katrien Poppe, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com "NYK [Belgium] is one of the few 'one-stop-shop' providers that are also in a neutral position in the market, meaning we are not linked to one particular manufacturer and can offer our services across a number of different brands." The European contract logistics market is currently flourishing, and recent research from Analytiqa revealed that spending on outsourced logistics services in the European pharma industry is likely to exceed $2bn (€1.5bn) in 2011 as more and more opportunities arise for 3PL providers. Poppe said that NYK Belgium decided to make the move into pharmaceuticals in order to "broaden its horizons."
