POLAR, A DHL GROUP COMPANY, STRENGTHENS OPERATIONS TO DISTRIBUTE DRUGS, EXPERIMENTAL VACCINES AND TEST SUPPLIES TO COMBAT COVID-19

• With the need for controlled temperature and fast delivery, products played a key role in initiatives to fight the pandemic in the country
  
• Carrier expanded team and fleet, in addition to adapting processes and contingency plans
  
• Polar completed 3 years as part of DHL Supply Chain Brazil with transported volume growth, new customers, and expansion plans

More than ever, delivering medicines and other medical and hospital supplies safely and quickly was vital for both healthcare systems and patients worldwide. As a carrier that specializes in temperature-controlled cargoes, Polar, a DHL Group company, has been strongly engaged in this process, having participated in at least 100 operations to transport items associated with the fight against / treatment of COVID-19 in Brazil. Since April, the carrier, which has been part of the Life Sciences & Healthcare area of DHL Supply Chain since 2017, carried out the transport of medicines, test supplies, respirators parts and even experimental vaccines to many different regions throughout the country.

“The cold chain is already quite complex due to its high standards of quality and health security, but doing all of this quickly and in the midst of all kinds of restrictions - such as policies of social distancing and reduction of transport networks - was an even greater challenge,” explained Miquele Lioi, Managing Director at Polar.

DHL recently published a study in partnership with McKinsey & Company, which reveals that vaccines against COVID-19 will pose a greater challenge in hospital supply chain logistics. Once COVID-19 vaccines are ready for use by the population, stricter specifications will be imposed to ensure that their effectiveness is maintained during transport and storage. In a second step, for the vaccine to reach the global level, up to 200 thousand pallet shipments and up to 15 million deliveries in refrigeration boxes will be necessary, as well as approximately 15 thousand flights, which will require a great planning between government and companies.

To adapt to this scenario, the carrier reinforced its team and dedicated fleet - currently comprised of 500 people and more than 300 vehicles of varying profile - installed a multidisciplinary committee for daily monitoring of operations and extensively reviewed the BCP (Business Continuity Plan). In this review, alternatives were identified and developed in the event of unavailability of staff - mainly drivers - and inputs, in addition to actions to increase operational capacity with the acquisition of 35 new vehicles in 2020. In addition, Polar also adopted safety protocols for measuring temperature of individuals in all sites, provided face coverings and hand sanitizers for the entire team and started monitoring closer the health of employees.

This structure acted in projects such as the transport from Guarulhos Airport to the Midwest of medicines that are used in patients with COVID-19; shipments from Viracopos and Brasília Airports of products and equipment for treating the disease in Santa Catarina and Goiânia; and weekly freights from Viracopos to Betim (MG) for test supplies.

“In all these projects, we had to ensure temperature control during the entire journey, according to the specifications, and guarantee the monitoring and risk management given the value and criticality of the products. Polar has implemented state-of-the-art equipment, in addition to a robust qualification process for all its vehicles. Our fleet has the required safety items, which minimizes risk exposure and allows for adequate monitoring according to the value of the cargo,” explains Polar's Managing Director.

Highlight also for Polar's great performance in the vaccine transport segment. Polar has been participating in national vaccination campaigns for years, both for pharmaceutical companies (national and multinational) and health authorities and agencies. For this, it uses refrigerated vehicles with temperature monitoring systems and has specialized teams and even pharmacists. It is not by chance that Polar is already involved in the vaccination effort against COVID-19, having carried out the local stretch of two international shipments of experimental vaccines from China.

Regarding the expansion plans, the Managing Director said “we have identified a great potential for expansion even in the pharmaceutical field, especially with a regulatory change that will come into effect soon, determining greater rigor in transport conditions for some classes of medicines. Our infrastructure is already ready for this change and we can help industries and distributors to make the necessary adjustments to their transportation plans,” added Miquele Lioi.