UPS heralds new Dublin-based healthcare facility set to open in 2023

Atlanta-based global freight transportation and logistics services provider UPS recently announced that its UPS Healthcare subsidiary is gearing up for an expansion in Ireland, with what it called a Dublin-based “first of its kind healthcare facility” set to open in late 2023.

UPS said that this new facility will be comprised of 6,000 square-meters (64,583 square-feet) of healthcare-dedicated space to connect Ireland’s growing pharmaceutical and medical technology industries to UPS’s smart global logistics network, serving customers in more than 220 countries and territories.

What’s more, the company added that this new facility will: support Ireland’s pharmaceutical and medical device industries in delivering next generation biologics, critical vaccines and vital healthcare equipment to patients around the world; and create 30 jobs initially, and the investment demonstrates UPS commitment to the Irish market and support for its long-term export growth.

And in citing data from Allied Market Research, UPS explained that 80% of pharmaceutical drugs in the European Union require cold-chain logistical support and temperature-controlled transportation, with more than 50% of all new drugs in the global pharmaceutical pipeline being biomedical drugs, like vaccines, that tend to be temperature-sensitive.

In an interview, Cathy O’Brien, UPS Healthcare Vice President, International Sales, told LM that as the third-largest exporter, Ireland is at the forefront of the global pharma market.

“We have been operating in Ireland for many years and have witnessed the growth of the industry,” she said. “Through the continued evolution of our healthcare offering, we’re ensuring that we can provide long term value for the growing Irish pharma industry. With five of the world’s eight top-selling drugs being produced in Ireland, pharma and med-tech products account for 38% of all exports from the country. The opening of the Dublin healthcare facility in late 2023 demonstrates UPS’s commitment to enabling the Irish R&D and manufacturing base to remain at the forefront of the industry through the provision of a truly global healthcare supply chains.”

As for what the main benefits of the UPS Healthcare Dublin facility are for shippers, O’Brien said that the facility will benefit from a fully integrated end-to-end, quality and regulatory compliant logistics solution for the pharma and med tech industry, which she called a first for Ireland.

“We will be providing logistics and supply chain services for products at a clinical trial stage right through to providing a final approved product to the end patient,” she said. “No one else in the market can do this under one logistics, quality and supply chain framework. We are simplifying the supply chain whilst increasing quality oversight and end to end control. In an ever more complex logistics world, this drives significant value for our customers.

And she highlighted how UPS launched a unique Healthcare monitoring and management service, UPS Premier, to support global Covid vaccine distribution to ensure it could deliver globally to countries around the world at near perfect on time performance (99.8%).

“This was a gamechanger during the vaccine roll out across the world,” she said. “UPS Premier is now available globally, and this facility will offer access to our globally integrated network and our unique track-and-trace, technology-led service. We see a big focus in Ireland on developing the biotech industry and with our Premier service, we will offer a specialized premium service proving prioritization of those shipments as they move through our leading global express network—essentially a ‘VIP Fast Lane.’ We can locate those packages within 3 meters of their location anywhere in our network. We can also classify and identify critical healthcare shipments before they leave our customers’ hands, offering them unprecedented control, visibility, and reliability across their supply chain.