By Kate Gutmann, Executive Vice President and President, International, Healthcare and Supply Chain Solutions. Kate oversees all of UPS’s business operations outside of U.S. small package, including international small package, global healthcare and global supply chain solutions.
Every day, patients depend on lifesaving medicines arriving safely, on time and at the right temperature. And as demand grows for advanced treatments like biologics, cell and gene therapies, and GLP-1 treatments, the need for integrated, end-to-end cold chain logistics has never been greater.
That’s why I’m proud UPS is investing $48 million to grow our cold-chain network, adding 27 temperature-controlled cross-dock facilities in key markets around the globe.
These facilities help us maintain precise temperatures when we move healthcare packages between air and ground transportation. By managing more of each shipment’s journey within our own network, we’re better protecting sensitive treatments from manufacturing through delivery.
Dive deeper into how cross-docks protect time- and temperature-sensitive shipments.
As the world’s No. 1 provider of complex healthcare logistics, this expansion builds on years of work to deliver for patients and providers. We’ve acquired companies in North America and Europe to strengthen our capabilities, and invested in major hubs – including Incheon, Korea – to support pharmaceutical trade flows.
For our healthcare customers, this all means better visibility, greater control and fewer handoffs across the supply chain. Most importantly, it means helping more patients get the care they need.
Quality is at the center of everything we do in healthcare logistics – so we have systems to protect shipments at every step. Our 24/7/365 control tower proactively monitors healthcare packages, flags risks and helps teams jump into action to keep sensitive medicines moving.
At UPS, we never lose sight of what is inside our healthcare shipments – because behind every package is a patient counting on us. I’m proud of how we’re strengthening our global network, and we’ll continue to invest in the facilities, technology and expertise needed to deliver critical treatments safely and reliably.
