Ceva Logistics, a Dutch-based multinational freight forwarder, said today it has opened a health care cold chain hub in Miami.

The facility, located at Ceva's Miami hub, includes a Good Distribution Practice- (GDP) compliant and Food and Drug Administration- (FDA) approved warehouse for the storage, merge-in-transit, and repacking of health care products, including pharmaceutical and cold chain products such as vaccines, Ceva said in a statement. The facility has a dedicated area where pharmaceutical shipments can be re-iced to maintain cold chain conformance and quality, CEVA said.

Ceva said the Miami facility will function as a backup storage and pick-and-pack facility in the event that Latin American destinations, which are normally served directly from Europe, are experiencing constraints due to increased demand.

"The opening of the Miami GDP hub gives Ceva the opportunity to provide even better solutions for our health care customers in general. The pick-and-pack facility specifically adds value in cold chain solutions into South America, ensuring complete compliance and product integrity from start to finish," said Sandro Knecht, Ceva's executive vice president of global consumer and retail and health care.

Ceva also operates "City of Pharma," in Stradella, Italy, which the company calls the hub of Italian logistics flows and the intersection of major Italian communication, rail, and road routes. From this location, Ceva serves about 13,000 pharmacies, 500 hospitals, and 400 wholesalers, with a total of about 350,000 shipments per year.