Specialist pharmaceutical warehouse opens at French airport

International forwarding agent DHL Danzas Air & Ocean has inaugurated a unique 1,000m² bonded transit warehouse in the cargo area of Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, near Paris.

The facility is dedicated to the import and export by air of pharmaceutical products and by-products and is said to guarantee a faultless logistical temperature-controlled chain.

The new site has been designed to house various types of pharmaceutical products and their by-products, and was equipped according to the Rules for Good Practice in Pharmaceutical Distribution. It includes three separate temperature controlled areas: 400m² at +15/+25°C; 400m² at +2/+8°C; and 20m² at -20°C. Reception and preparation areas, each of 100m², are also under controlled temperature at +15/+25°C.

The security scan in the reception zone and the pallet-building area located in the preparation zone for despatch are also temperature controlled. Probes are installed in the warehouse to monitor the temperature, and temperature records are held in computer memory for management purposes and legal requirements. The wheels on forklift and handling equipment are white and designed not to soil or damage the floor covering, which is adapted to the temperatures in the warehouse.

Specific operating protocols govern the warehouse with regard to security, access, servicing and hygiene checks (pest control and preventing the entry of insects and rodents). These protocols are part of the quality system of DHL Danzas Air & Ocean, which has been certified ISO 9001 version 2000.

The facility also has its own dedicated staff, who are highly trained in operating protocols , Rules for Good Practice in Pharmaceutical Distribution , phar-maceutical regulations and the resulting airfreight techniques (in particular Envirotainer). A quality technician is specially allocated to constant control and improvement with regard to pharmaceutical logistics.

According to DHL Danzas Air & Ocean, this warehouse guarantees the cold chain for these high value added products and supplies the missing link between international airfreight transport and its clients in the pharmaceutical industry.