Consultant Insight: Indianapolis — a growing pharmaceutical air hub

Kuehne+Nagel recently opened a new multiclient, Good Distribution Practice (GDP)-compliant facility adjacent to Indianapolis International Airport (IND). The 166,000-square-foot building will support the need for temperature-controlled pharmaceutical goods, according to a Sept. 7 release. Kuehne+Nagel is one of many logistics providers expanding health care logistics services in and around the Indianapolis area. [caption id="attachment_76185" align="alignright" width="298"] Cathy Roberson, Cargo Facts Consulting senior consultant and Air Cargo World columnist[/caption] “This latest investment underpins our commitment to health care logistics, which we recognize as a significant factor to our and our customer’s future success,” Eduardo Razuck, senior vice president of Contract Logistics Americas at Kuehne+Nagel, said in the company’s announcement. Health care logistics The Indianapolis area has become home to a growing number of health care logistics services. In 2021, for example, Life Sciences Logistics announced a fourth facility in Indiana, a 440,000-square-foot cold-storage facility. Company Chief Executive Officer Richard Beeny told a local publication that “pharmaceutical companies and medical device makers are getting new and current products to market so quickly, they need a growing amount of storage space, especially cold storage.” Indeed, forwarder DB Schenker expanded its Indianapolis facility in 2021 by adding an additional 5,000 square feet of cold storage and 50,000 square feet of controlled room-temperature space. The expanded facility supports the pharmaceutical industry’s growing need for temperature-controlled logistics space, according to a May 2021 release. By building the additions in Indianapolis, DB Schenker will be able to leverage a less-congested U.S. airport to fly direct to and from Luxembourg (LUX) via its own-controlled flights. The company’s decision to expand the Indianapolis facility was strategic and based on its geographic location, according to Benjamin Zervas, head of airfreight management healthcare, Americas at DB Schenker. “As the major airports in the U.S. become more congested, smaller airports like Indianapolis and Luxembourg have become more suitable for moving freight,” Zervas said. “We can move directly from the tarmac to our facility without a ground handler, thus reducing the loading or unloading times down to just about 15 minutes.” Strategic Midwest location In 2020, DHL Global Freight Forwarding opened 20,000 square feet of dedicated perishable handling warehouse space in Indianapolis , strategically located to service the Midwest, Northeast, South and Southeast regions of the U.S., according to DHL. It also includes a bonded warehouse and is part of the DHL Global Forwarding Free Trade Zone footprint. In addition, DHL Global Forwarding was planning a new life sciences and health care freighter service from EMEA and Indianapolis, according to a July 2020 release. The new freighter was to provide an “end-to-end” service from the time a shipment is accepted at the customer’s warehouse to the destination hub with inland haulage to the Indianapolis facility for storage and final distribution. FedEx also has a large health care and temperature-controlled facility at IND. In fact, Indianapolis is FedEx’s second-largest hub behind Memphis (MEM). FedEx Express’ total cargo volume at IND has increased 27% from 2018 to 2021. Pharmaceutical goods trade growth According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s USA Trade Online database, imports of pharmaceutical goods (harmonized code 30) into Indianapolis have witnessed strong growth in terms of year-over-year volumes, up 66% to 2,158,460 kg in 2021 from 1,299,248 kg in 2018. Year-to-date through July, volumes continue to trend upward from 1,235,309 kg compared with 788,169 kg for the same period in 2018. Exports of pharmaceutical goods, however, have trended down since 2018 but the customs value has more than doubled from 2018’s $134,246,303 compared with 2021’s $398,145,049. IND ranked at No. 26 in Air Cargo World ’s Top 50 Cargo Airports ranking, based on 2021 throughput. Join Air Cargo World for our next webinar, “Forward Thinking: Best practices for freight forwarder success,” on Tuesday, Sept. 13, at 11 a.m. ET. Click here for more information and to register.

Consultant Insight: Indianapolis — a growing pharmaceutical air hub

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