Ceva Logistics has opened its first temperature-controlled airfreight station in Singapore as it looks to boost its pharma logistics offering and help position the city state as a healthcare logistics hub in Asia Pacific.

The French forwarder, who announced plans to operate 40 of such airfreight stations by the end of this year, says the new station will help facilitate seamless regional distribution amongst Asean nations, particularly given the need for vaccines and other medical supplies at this critical time.

Located adjacent to Changi Airport, the new Singapore cold station will have two dedicated areas for temperature management of pharma shipments within the range of 15-25C and 2-8C. Aside from in-transit storage, value-add services like dry ice, relabeling and cross-stocking within the free trade zone of the airport logistics park of Singapore will be offered.

“As CEVA’s first airfreight cold chain facility in Singapore, this is a timely investment for healthcare logistics,” said Elaine Low, managing director for Southeast Asia and Pacific. “This air hub is now capable of supporting the regional distribution of vaccines and other pharmaceutical supplies that are critically needed in Southeast Asia at the moment.”

Ceva says it will also provide solutions for certain vaccines requiring lower temperatures during transport. Additional tools like the automated control tower workflow tool Controlant, and Validaide, a risk assessment tool on lane validations, will be available for customers to ensure reliability and compliance.