Case Studies

Merck

Industry: Pharmaceutical
Solution: Freight Forwarding
GAA Company: Key Logistics Solutions

Unique Solution:

Created & Maintained Consistent Flow for Entire Supply Chain & Negotiated Lower Costs in the Face of Severely Limited/Costly Transit Options during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Merck is a multinational, Fortune 500/Forbes Global 2000 pharmaceutical company operating in numerous countries around the world. Merck creates, produces and distributes a wide variety of medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products.

Merck

Challenge

During the Global COVID-19 Pandemic, Merck Animal Health division needed a partner to provide additional flight options for their international shipments in order to keep their global supply chain flowing smoothly and consistently.

The Pandemic caused tight capacity and limited flights with all airlines in all markets at all major ports. As a result, airline pricing increased tremendously, and shipments were forced to move as spot rates. Cool storage space was limited and overbooked, causing longer flight transit times, and airline customer service decreased greatly due to limited staffing.

Solution

Key Logistics Solutions (KLS) - part of the GAA family of companies - was engaged to design an innovative solution tailored to Merck's needs. The KLS Team instituted daily meetings with the shipper to align and cover all bases, along with 24-hour cargo tracking and shipment management. Weekly team building meetups with the U.S. and overseas colleagues were implemented to keep everything on track. KLS was able to leverage its high volume to negotiate better rates with carriers and work with major airlines to ensure the best and quickest schedule for Merck.

Solution Highlights

The suite of streamlined services KLS created solved the problems Merck was encountering due to COVID's impact on air transit, including:

  • New Innovated Packaging that Protects Products during Transit

  • Offered Lower Pricing

  • Offered Better Flight & Sailing Schedule than Competitor

  • Provided Accuracy in Shipping to Multiple Destination without Errors

  • Provided Flight Options by using Ports that Normally aren't used for a Specific Market (Miami)

  • Offered Certified Trucking Options

Results

Merck was thrilled with the end results of the work KLS performed on their behalf, including:

  • Secured Contracts for Additional Facilities & Lanes from Competitors - such as the Millsboro DE Fac, Brazil Ocean, Chile, Australian Active Exports and more
  • Maintained Consistent Flow for the Entire Supply Chain
  • Developed Shipper Trust through Our Decisions, Planning & Management of the Supply Chain as a Control Tower
  • Became the Shippers' "GO TO" for Urgent Needs