DB Schenker Americas announces expansion of Indianapolis facility

DB Schenker Americas, a third-party logistics (3PL) services provider and subsidiary of DC Schenker, said this week it has undergone a major expansion at its Indianapolis-based facility.

The company said that the expansion is comprised of an additional 5,000 square-feet (SF) of cold room and 50,000 (SF) of controlled room temperature space. And it added that this facility, which the company opened in 2006, also incorporates 9,000 SF of +2C to +8C space, 100,000 SF of +15C to +25C space, and dedicated capacity on its own-controlled flights to and from Luxembourg, which, along with Luxembourg serve as major centers of vaccine/pharmaceutical activity. These flights include dedicated temperature-controlled capacity, according to DB Schenker.   

DB Schenker said that this facility is Good Distribution Practice-compliant, with all freight assembled within the temperature-controlled rooms prior to being loaded onto the aircraft for shipping. And once onsite, it said that the storage of the controlled products can be mapped and validated according to industry guidelines, and value-added services can be performed right within the temperature-controlled environment. The company has also added three state-of-the-art refrigerated trucks (“reefers”) for the transport of key pharmaceutical and health care products. These trucks are equipped with electric standby capabilities and be plugged into an outlet and turned off when they aren’t moving. 

“As the major airports in the U.S. become more congested, smaller airports like Indianapolis and Luxembourg have become more suitable for moving temperature-controlled healthcare shipments,” said Benjamin Zervas, Head of Airfreight Management Healthcare, Americas at DB Schenker, in a statement. “We can move directly from the tarmac to our facility, thus reducing any risks of temperature deviation during tarmac operation.”  

Zervas added that a main driver for the Indianapolis expansion was strategic and based on its geographic location.

And he told LM that the expansion has been planned for 15 months, and was accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“More and more products require strict temperature controls throughout the supply chain and thus the need to further expand our temperature-controlled footprint,” he said. “The main benefits of the facility expansion, as well as what our dedicated flight operations offer, is that our customer receive dedicated healthcare temperature-controlled capacity in regards to warehousing and airfreight from and to Europe and U.S.,” he said. “The facility is fully mapped and validated according to WHO Standards. The flight operation is fully GDP (good distribution practices) compliant. Customers can rest at ease in regards to the temperature control during the operation with limited exposure of ambient temperatures on the tarmac.” 

When asked what the main benefits of this expansion are from a DB Schenker Americas perspective, Zervas explained that the expansion allows it to service its healthcare customers with a greater footprint.

“It allows us to reach more customers and extend our healthcare footprint within the airfreight community and also service the industry for years to come by constantly evolving our operation,” he said.