DHL adds six healthcare cold chain air corridors to Asia

The News

DHL Global Forwarding has added six temperature-controlled air corridors for healthcare shippers, including routes from Cincinnati to Singapore, Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon, according to Supply Chain Dive and STAT Times.

“These new corridors further expand our Cold Chain Network into strategically important healthcare markets across Asia,” said Henk Venema, global head of air freight at DHL Global Forwarding.
The other three corridors run from Liège and Brussels to Shanghai and from Brussels to Singapore.

The details

Most of the flights stay inside DHL’s own network. DHL says that cuts the number of handovers a shipment goes through.

Most routes fly on DHL’s Boeing 777 freighters, which have three compartments with separate temperature settings.
Shipments travel with thermal blankets, phase change materials and validated handling procedures, per STAT Times.

DHL tied the routes to demand from drugmakers in North America and Europe shipping to Asia. The corridors run both ways, but DHL expects most volume to head into Asia.

“DHL can therefore support both directions of trade as customer demand evolves,” spokesperson Laura Lehnen told Supply Chain Dive.
The network carries pharmaceuticals, biologics, vaccines and clinical trial materials. It builds on a Brussels to Cincinnati corridor DHL opened earlier this year.

The ground side is growing at Cincinnati and Indianapolis. DHL plans new temperature-controlled storage on and off the airport at its Ohio hub.

At Cincinnati, DHL plans five temperature-controlled dollies, a new airside facility for storing temperature-controlled unit load devices in 2027, and an off-airport site for storage and pallet build-up, per Supply Chain Dive.
Its Indianapolis life sciences facility, about 2.5 hours away by road, is adding 2-8°C pallet storage.
Rival FedEx set up a healthcare and pharma logistics organization in June and began a Dublin to Indianapolis flight last year.