Roermond, 12 June 2024 - UPS Healthcare announces the expansion of its European hub facility in Roermond. The logistics provider will add 21,860 m² to the existing facility and increase its cold chain capacity. This forms a crucial link in a strong and reliable supply chain for a wide range of complex biopharmaceuticals.
With the expansion of its facility in Roermond, UPS can increase its cold chain capacity and capabilities. The Roermond hub now has more than 200 ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers capable of storing temperature-sensitive products down to -80°C. In addition, the facility adds about 3,200 pallet positions to its existing portfolio for storing temperature-sensitive products at 2 °C to 8 °C.
Worldwide, UPS Healthcare now has 1.6 million m² of cGMP- and GDP-compliant storage space, of which 930,000 m² is dedicated to the cold chain. Since 2020, it has more than doubled its global network of healthcare compliant storage space.
Responding to a growing market
The expansion of the facility meets the demand for advanced and temperature-controlled logistics in the healthcare sector. The global biologics market is expected to grow from €342.9 billion in 2024 to €564.6 billion by 20291. The Dutch pharma sector is estimated to grow by 6.17% between 2024 and 2028, representing a market volume of €7.03 billion by 20282.
"Society's healthcare needs are changing. There is more need for biological medicines and these require complex temperature-controlled logistics with sustainable end-to-end solutions. This is how we get patient-critical products where they need to be, from lab to patient, on time and at the right temperature," says Anouk Hesen, Operations Director, UPS Healthcare West Europe. "By expanding the facility in Roermond, we are able to offer a greater range of our cold chain logistics to a fast-growing and innovative market.
Strategic location
The facility in Roermond is close to UPS' European air hub at Cologne-Bonn airport and has direct access to major ports such as Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp. In addition, UPS Healthcare has a fleet of temperature-controlled vehicles.
Moreover, Roermond is within a 1,000 km radius of 80% of the European healthcare market. The combination of a central strategic location and a specialised fleet ensures that delivery within 24 hours is possible in most of Europe.
Renewable energy to meet sustainability targets
The new UPS Healthcare facility has 2,500 installed solar panels that provide more than 1.2 GWh of energy. This is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 450 households in the Netherlands3. The solar panels enable UPS to feed power back into the grid. This contributes to its local sustainability efforts around renewable energy and to UPS's goal of powering one in four facilities with renewable energy by 2025. By 2035, all facilities should run on renewable energy.
UPS Healthcare's sustainability efforts also benefit its customers. EU regulations require large and listed companies to regularly report on their environmental impact through a sustainability report. This includes emissions from suppliers. So lower emissions at UPS Healthcare's facilities mean lower emissions for the customer chain.
