DHL Global Forwarding renews IATA CEIV Pharma certification

July 11, 2020: DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist of Deutsche Post DHL Group, has been recertified to the CEIV Pharma Standard of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) globally.

DHL has been actively involved with IATA’s efforts to answer to the regulatory demands of the pharmaceutical industry. A standardized approach in air freight increases productivity, accuracy, and reliability while remaining compliant in all required areas. DHL began certifying its global stations according to the IATA CEIV Pharma Certification in 2016 to raise the bar in pharmaceutical logistics.

By providing a training program, IATA regulation standards were implemented at scale in key GxP (good practice) facilities worldwide. The CIF Certified Life Sciences Specialist (CLSS) program provides a curriculum of mandatory training, functional courses, and material to unlock the knowledge of this specialized industry. All designated employees handling and involved in Life Sciences & Healthcare shipments have completed the training and are certified Life Science Specialists. This ensures that sensitive shipments are handled with care and in compliance with the highest industry standards.

Following the independent audits and training for employees on-site, DHL received the quality label for stations located around the world, including in Barcelona, Bogota, Tokyo, and Chicago. In this way, DHL Global Forwarding enhances transportation and storage quality levels of goods it handles to exceed the usual quality standards, thereby assuring product integrity and thus patients’ safety. Due to its cloud-based IT platform, LifeTrack, DHL enables more transparency in temperature-controlled transports. LifeTrack not only offers shipment tracking but also enables 24/7 proactive monitoring and intervention based on pre-determined touch points and DHL's NFC SmartSensor technology.

At each location, IATA examines and compares the station’s correspondence to its Temperature Control Regulations (TCR) as well as GDP (Good Distribution Practices) guidelines from the European Union, World Health Organization and other regulatory bodies.

With its international network, DHL offers a product portfolio at its Air GxP locations that cover all client needs for time and temperature-sensitive airfreight shipments and provides seamless temperature visibility along the supply chain. Through its excellent service, DHL has successfully established itself as the market leader for logistics solutions in the life sciences and healthcare industry. Special services also include the door-to-door courier solution “Life Sciences graded Specialty Courier”, the express service “Medical Express” with a fixed delivery time, and “DHL Clinical Trial Logistics”, a logistics solution designed for clinical studies such as the transportation of trial medication, ancillaries, and lab kits.