AFP, Florstadt

Medicines can stop pain, fight cancer and save lives but are worthless if they get lost in the mail, spoil in a hot warehouse or are stuck on a ship.

This is where pharmaceutical logistics comes in -- a fast-growing sector in a world where key supply chains have been shaken by war, pandemic and trade chaos.

One of its European hubs is what Germany’s DHL calls its health logistics campus near Frankfurt, dedicated to ensuring drugs and other crucial medical products reliably get to where they’re needed.

As fears of medicine shortages grow amid the five-week-old Middle East war, its task is to ensure steady shipments to hospitals, pharmacies, labs and other customers across Europe and worldwide.

The company’s facility -- the size of 14 football fields, with its roofs covered in solar panels -- is located in Florstadt outside Frankfurt, itself a transport centre in the middle of Europe.

Products passing through the giant site range from insulin capsules and lifestyle drugs to medicated sunblock and drums of sulphuric acid.

Strict temperature controls and workers in protective suits ensure that medicines are handled under sterile conditions and in guaranteed cold chains.

“Our 600 employees are specially trained because they know that, ultimately, the patient is at the end of the supply chain and no errors are allowed,” said Katrin Hoelter, head of DHL’s logistics division in Germany and the Alpine countries.