DHL expands medical express service in Mexico

Shipping and logistics provider DHL Express will expand its DHL Medical Express (WMX) service between Mexico and the United States, the company said this week.

Launched in Mexico last July, the service delivers Mexico-based patient samples to U.S. labs in less than 24 hours, reducing transit times for urgent, temperature-sensitive shipments from Mexican cities by an additional day, the company said.

Plantation, Fla.-based DHL says it can improve transit times, in part, because of its asset-based air network and its ability to export from multiple gateways in Mexico. The company operates daily direct flights from Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterey, linking to its regional hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), and then connecting to most U.S. cities and central lab locations the next morning and in less than 24 hours from patient draw time, DHL said.

The news builds on the company's growing business with the pharmaceutical sector; in January, DHL announced the launch of the WMX service in Brazil.

DHL said its WMX service in Mexico will expand into 17 new cities—Zapopan, Toluca, Cuernavaca, Cuatla, Pachuca, Saltillo, Aguascalientes, Puebla, Celaya, San Luis Potosi, Torreon, Morelia, Leon, Guanajuato, Jalapa, Orizaba and Durango—by early in the second quarter of 2019. The service is an alternative to the commercial carriers that historically have served the region, the company added.