International logistics provider GEODIS is ensuring the safe transport of the cargo from China to Germany. The freight forwarding unit of GEODIS in Germany won this major contract of 275 tonnes in a public tender from the German government. Around 50,000 boxes of gloves will be transported in five shipments from Chengdu, in the Chinese province of Sichuan, to Frankfurt and Nuremberg by airfreight and rail.

The air and rail transportation solution, which GEODIS developed in close cooperation with all partners, includes the continuous monitoring of the shipments. Employees of the Chinese supplier watch over the dispatching and loading of the containers at Sichuan Medicines & Health Products’s production facilities in Shendong, where the certified goods are manufactured. The GEODIS teams in China and Europe monitor transport from Chengdu to the destinations in Germany. So-called GEOtags are used for the containers, which enable live tracking via GPS.

The first airfreight shipment from Chengdu Airport to Frankfurt took place on May 19. This first partial delivery consisted of 2.5 million disposable gloves, packed in 2,500 boxes weighing almost 15 tonnes. In Frankfurt, GEODIS employees packed the goods on 40 pallets, cleared Customs and prepared them for collection.

In Germany, a team headed by Antje Lochmann, managing director of GEODIS Freight Forwarding Germany, is co-ordinating all the activities involved in the contract. “As a response to the new requirements and demands, GEODIS has developed a dedicated concept for transportation of medical protective clothing, and we are particularly pleased to be able to support the German Government with this know-how,” she says.