UPS announced a major expansion to its International Special Commodities (ISC) program. Customers can ship biological substances, dangerous goods in excepted quantities (a weight specification), and shipments utilizing dry ice via UPS to more than 50 additional international destinations. This brings the total number of countries served by UPS’s dangerous goods service to more than 100.
This latest expansion is a direct response to growing demands from biopharmaceutical manufacturers, diagnostics companies, laboratories, distributors and care providers to ship specialized commodities when security, time and temperature control are a high priority.
UPS is now able to pick up and deliver packages under regulation UN3373 (Biologic Substances, Category B, Diagnostic Specimen and Clinical Specimen) as well as UN1845 (Carbon Dioxide, solid or dry ice) in 51 added countries and territories, ranging alphabetically from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
UN3373 and UN1845 are guidelines issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to regulate the safe transportation of goods using air transportation modes. A full list of approved countries and categories accepted by UPS can be found here.
“This network expansion demonstrates our ongoing investments to continually build out an optimized supply chain to meet our customers’ demands,” says Dan Gagnon, UPS VP of Global Healthcare Strategy. “As specimen logistics get more complex globally, organizations will need to rely on streamlined, end-to-end solutions that can help transport sensitive goods on time, undamaged and within temperature range.”
Healthcare and life science companies shipping high-value, time- and temperature-sensitive shipments to, from and within the U.S. and global markets have access to UPS Proactive Response™ Secure, which combines shipment monitoring and risk management to help mitigate product spoilage. The service helps critical shipments reach their destinations even if unexpected events occur, and covers potential losses if products are damaged or spoiled.
UPS delivers value to healthcare companies through a broad portfolio of specialized freight and small package transportation and distribution services. UPS’s healthcare network also offers services such as temperature-sensitive storage and transportation, around-the-clock monitoring and security, kitting and labeling as well as order management and accounts receivable. Services across all locations are accessible via one global IT order management platform.
