World Courier expands fleet as EU GDP rules drive demand for compliance

15-Jan-2014 - Last updated on 16-Jan-2014 at 10:38 GMT

World Courier says it is expanding its European ground fleet as pharma and supplier demand grows in the wake of new EU GDP guidelines.

The guidelines on Good Distribution Practice of Medicinal Products for Human Use which came into effect last November require evidence of temperature controlled handling and storage for pharmaceuticals.

In order to deal with an increase in demand, pharma logistic company World Courier is upgrading its groundforce to deal with an additional 27 Sprinters and four 13.8 metre trailers.

“It is no longer acceptable to assume that refrigerated trucks or ambient trucks will supply an adequate environment for shipping,” spokesperson Sue Lee told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

“The new vehicles are needed because of expanding demand by pharma companies and suppliers to be able to prove that all label requirements for pharmaceutical supplies have been met.”

Lee added all current vehicles in the fleet are already compliant with the new requirements, which were drafted in March last year, but have been further fitted with enhanced security measures designed to improve road and vehicle safety.

“Clients are very anxious for the new capacity to come on line as soon as the qualification has been completed at Controlled Room Temperature (CRT),” she continued. “Currently our lead time for a shipment can be as much as a week at times of high demand.”

However, the increased fleet size will improve response time, she added, “as more vehicles will be based on main land Europe and availability for shipping.”

Wales

News of the extended fleet comes just a month after the firm announced it was in the final stages of creating a new facility in Wales, UK, to support local clients looking to ship biological samples, medical devices and spare parts.

World Courier UK Manager Simon Beaumont said: “The brand new 250 square metre facility will offer significant benefits, to our growing customer base in South Wales, including locally based drivers and industry leading packaging systems, along with GDP compliant, mapped, calibrated and monitored cold chain capacity, with redundant systems in place.”