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Zuellig Pharma to beef up cold storage warehouse capacity in key regional markets, including the Philippines, over the next 12 months in anticipation of storage and distribution demands for COVID-19 vaccines
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In the Philippines, Zuellig will add 10 medical-grade freezers to augment its existing capacity in -80°C storage
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Five new cold chambers will be added—three in Manila and one each in Cebu and Davao—from January 2021
Zuellig Pharma will build up its cold storage warehouse capacity in key regional markets, including the Philippines, over the next 12 months as it prepares for anticipated storage and distribution demands for coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.
In the Philippines, the vaccine and cold chain pharmaceutical distributor will add 10 medical-grade freezers to augment its existing capacity in -80°C storage. Zuellig currently already has the capacity to store products at -20°C.
The company will also add five new cold chambers from January 2021, three to be located in Manila and one each in Cebu and Davao.
Last September, Zuellig opened a new national distribution center (NDC) in Santa Rosa, Laguna. It is the first warehouse to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified.
The 25,000-square-meter (sqm) facility is equipped with automation and energy efficient functionalities, including 10,000 sqm of solar panels, LED intelligent lighting, and a water-chilled cooling system.
In Cambodia, a new US$6 million warehouse is currently under construction and expected to be fully operational by the third quarter of 2021.
The 6,300 sqm warehouse will become the country’s largest pharmaceutical warehouse and increase its cold storage capacity fourfold.
It will be strategically located in Phnom Penh, close to major patient population and air and sea transportation links to enable efficient distribution of vaccines and other products across the country.
Zuellig Pharma is also actively investing in the expansion of its warehouse and distribution facilities, with plans to build a new distribution center in Taiwan in 2024 for about $66 million.
In Indonesia, through its subsidiary APL, the company has opened a national distribution center in West Java, the largest in the country at 39,930 sqm.
The warehouse has three different temperature-controlled environments and advanced monitoring systems to protect its operations and the integrity of products. Its cold room capacity for pharmaceutical products is also the largest in terms of size in the country.
In addition, APL manages cold rooms in 26 branches in 15 cities across the nation, making the capacity much more resilient than capacity based on refrigerators.
In Thailand, Zuellig already expanded its capacity with a new cold chain room last year. Its total cold chain capacity now spans 4,070 sqm. All rooms are equipped with primary and secondary temperature alarms for enhanced product safety.
Zuellig Pharma Korea has cold chain capabilities across all its warehouses covering a cumulative area of about 10,000 sqm. The cold chain capacity was increased by 26% this year, with plans to add 1,000 pallets in 2021.
“COVID-19 has severely tested our operations over these past few months, but it has also presented opportunities for transformational change at Zuellig Pharma,” Zuellig Pharma chief executive officer John Graham said.
“We have brought forward our expansion plans to ensure that the vaccine will be accessible to those who need them most and are able to ramp up capacity quickly when needed.”
Zuellig Pharma’s cold chain capabilities also include eZCooler, an environmentally friendly innovation that extends the storage time of temperature-sensitive products in transit from two days with a traditional system, to five days.
Tom Vanmolkot, Zuellig Pharma executive vice president for distribution and client services, said eZCooler’s thermal isolation system can be customized to provide the low temperatures needed to transport and store COVID-19 vaccines, which could require temperatures as low as -70°C.
This, he said, is complemented by eZTracker, Zuellig’s in-house blockchain solution that enables full traceability during the distribution of the vaccine to rural areas throughout Asia without compromising integrity.
Zuellig Pharma currently has over 80 distribution centers in 13 markets across Asia. – Roumina Pablo
