DHL Supply Chain, offering contract logistics solutions, announced the launch of four new state-of-the-art storage facilities around Australia. The healthcare-grade facilities will store and manage inventory of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, vaccines, animal health, diagnostics, and consumer health products, to support increasing demand for these products. The additional capacity will also enable DHL to efficiently manage the storage and distribution of any upcoming COVID-19 vaccines.
The new facilities have a combined floor space of approximately 64,000 square metres – equivalent to nine football fields – across the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth metropolitan areas. This investment includes more than 9,000 square metres of DHL’s leading cold-chain operations to support the success of critically important cold chain products around Australia which must be stored in temperatures ranging from two to eight degrees Celsius. DHL Supply Chain also has proprietary packaging solutions designed specifically for pharmaceutical products to ensure health supplies are delivered in the optimum condition.
Saul Resnick, CEO, DHL Supply Chain, Australia and New Zealand said, “We have seen growing interest for our industry-leading cold storage facilities which in turn, drives better outcomes for the storage and distribution of healthcare products. Increasingly, we have also seen a growing appetite for local distribution centres to be an ongoing part of global supply chains”.
In addition to the new facilities, DHL Supply Chain will also invest in a new multi-million dollar transport management system and national control tower, to support more efficient consignment planning and offer customers greater visibility of their deliveries. This will soon enable DHL to offer dual-temperature controlled vehicles for delivery of customers’ products in all major capital cities.
The facilities will be powered by a combined 2,700kW of solar power, equivalent to the energy consumed by 450 average Australian family homes over the course of a year. Included in this is the company’s showcase 1700kW urban solar plant powering its facility in New South Wales’ Horsley Park – the first of its kind in Australia.
“DHL Supply Chain is committed to doing its part in ensuring our partners and customers have access to environmentally sustainable supply chain operations that are both cost-efficient and operationally excellent,” Mr Resnick said.
“By investing in renewable energy sources, as well as a number of other initiatives, DHL Supply Chain is on track to meet our long-term goal of reducing all logistics-related emissions to zero by 2050.”
Further plans are underway to introduce a cold chain automation picking and packing solution that will drive compliant, and efficient processes for pharmaceutical supply. This project will be the first of its kind in Australia, based in New South Wales.
