Press Release

Nippon Express USA acquires GDP certification for Chicago warehouse

NEX Pharma Solutions-Chicago to begin operations as a temperature-controlled facility for handling pharmaceuticals

Nippon Express USA, Inc. (Toshiya Abe, President; hereinafter, "NEUSA"), a subsidiary of Nippon Express Co., Ltd. (Mitsuru Saito, President), has recently set up NEX Pharma Solutions-Chicago, a temperature-controlled facility specializing in medical and pharmaceutical products, within its warehouse located near Chicago O'Hare Airport and obtained GDP certification for the facility, which began operations on Tuesday, September 1.

The US Midwest (including Chicago) and Northeast are home to numerous pharmaceutical and medical equipment businesses, and these regions are expected to see rising demand for related logistics services. NEUSA's Chicago location is its largest air cargo hub, a gateway that operates regular shuttle trucks to transport cargo arriving at Chicago O'Hare Airport to company locations in other Midwestern states for delivery as early as the following morning.

NEUSA on September 1 completed the procedures necessary to make subsidiaries out of MD Logistics LLC and MD Express LLC, two US logistics companies specializing in logistics functions for medical and pharmaceutical products. These companies have four warehouses in neighboring Indiana as well as one in Nevada (total floor area: approximately 1,000,000ft2 or 93,000m2) that offer storage, distribution processing and nationwide delivery services, and connecting these to the newly upgraded Chicago hub will make it possible to link these warehouses to overseas operations while still maintaining the transport quality appropriate for medical and pharmaceutical products.

Strict compliance with Good Distribution Practice (GDP) and other quality standards is required worldwide when handing pharmaceuticals, and customers are demanding increasingly higher quality standards for temperature control during transport/storage. The new NEX Pharma Solutions-Chicago will enable NEUSA to provide safe and high-quality temperature-controlled transport services and to meet customer needs with GDP-compliant facilities and operating frameworks.

[Facility features]

Nippon Express will continue enhancing its services to meet increasingly sophisticated and diverse pharmaceutical transport needs and will step up its efforts on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry, positioned as a priority industry in the Nippon Express Group Corporate Strategy.

[Profile of facility]

Name Nippon Express USA, Inc. NEX Pharma Solutions-Chicago
Address 401 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60018 USA
Facility area 602.00m2
(Breakdown)
Anteroom:222.96m2
Temperature-controlled Space 1:189.52m2
Temperature-controlled Space 2:142.14m2
Freezer:47.38m2