cargo-partner launches pharma & healthcare competence center in Mumbai

May 4, 2020: The international transport and info-logistics provider, cargo-partner has opened its GDP-compliant competence center for pharmaceuticals & healthcare in India. This is the company’s third competence center for pharmaceuticals and healthcare products, following Vienna and Hamburg. A 24/7 service desk ensures fast responses for all pharma-related shipments to and from India.

“With the opening of the new Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Competence Center in Mumbai, cargo-partner has established a new hub to provide its customers with GDP-compliant services in warehousing, national and regional trucking as well as international air and sea freight. To ensure fast and reliable service for urgent pharmaceutical and healthcare transports, cargo-partner in India recently introduced a 24/7 service desk which promises a response within 29 minutes as well as a full quotation within two hours,” says the release.

cargo-partner in India
cargo-partner has been represented in India since 2007 and currently has 11 offices with 135 employees across the country.

Rajiv Singh, managing director, cargo-partner-India, explains the strategic setup of the new competence center: “With our new Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Competence Center in Mumbai, we can ensure full GDP compliance, end-to-end product integrity and professional handling at every step. We have put together a dedicated team of well-trained staff from our air, sea, road transport and quality management departments who can support our customers with in-depth industry expertise. Our processes are based on many years of experience, making use of detailed risk and deviation management procedures to achieve maximum security and efficiency.”

First customer: Glenmark
One of cargo-partner’s first customers at the new competence center is Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, a leading pharmaceutical supplier founded in 1977 and headquartered in Mumbai. Rajasekhara Reddy, vice president global demand planning and logistic head of Glenmark, on the motivations behind the collaboration: “We chose to work with cargo-partner as they represent professionalism, not only in India, but also in our destination countries, and we have grown to trust them as a highly reliable service partner who always keeps their commitments. The launch of the cargo-partner Competence Center in Mumbai will strengthen our relationship on a broader scale and serve to further secure our supply chain and product integrity.”

Competence centers in Vienna & Hamburg
Besides the new competence center in Mumbai, cargo-partner also operates Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Competence Centers in Vienna, focused on airfreight, as well as Hamburg, specializing in sea freight. At Vienna Airport, cargo-partner runs a Pharma Center providing a 200 m² handling area for reloading, cross-docking as well as ULD buildup and breakdown at a constant temperature of +2 to +8 °C. An own screening machine ensures the fast processing of time-sensitive shipments. cargo-partner in Austria is ISO 9001:2015 Pharma certified, accredited as a Qualified Envirotainer Provider (QEP) and operates in accordance with GDP standards for pharmaceuticals logistics. In Hamburg, cargo-partner is certified for GDP compliance and has recently obtained the IFS certification for foodstuffs logistics for its 4,900 m² warehouse located 20 km south of Hamburg.

Indian pharma
“Over the past decade, India has become one of the world’s dominant players in the pharmaceuticals and healthcare sector. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation, India supplies over 50 percent of global demand for various vaccines, 40 percent of generics demand in the US and 25 percent of all medicine in the UK. Indian drugs are exported to more than 200 countries in the world, with the US as the key market. For cargo-partner, this means that India is a key strategic point in the company’s global Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare network, says the release.