Packaging Materials
Continued improved sophistication through the supply chain by temperature control, monitoring and reporting:
• Vacuum Insulated Panels first available (2004): Adapted from pharmaceutical logistics from technology developed for building construction. Capable of very long routes and stage and precise temperature control.
• PCM (phase change materials) first available (2005): These are packs of salt solutions, wax or paraffin, which store and release energy over longer periods than the standard cool packs used with EPS/Styrofoam packaging. More efficient, weigh less and can maintain a wider range of temperatures within a narrower band.
• Next-generation passive solutions first available (2015): For more demanding shipments, the creation of a passive container enabling more secure transit over longer transit than any other solution.
Decade at a Glance
World Courier becomes the first logistics company to offer global fully-integrated ‘one-stop’ clinical trial transport, storage and local/regional distribution services, with the build of depots in key emerging markets.
World Courier continues to develop an in-depth knowledge of the complexities of clinical trials and the time- and temperature-sensitive products required to keep medicine moving forward.
Packaging Materials
Temperature controlled shipping continues
to evolve:
• EPS/Styrofoam first available: Require refrigerated and frozen coolants and allow for shipping small volumes at 2-8°c or -20°c over short transits in predictable transport conditions.
• Monitoring first available: Temperature loggers can be added to the packaging to show real-time data, and alert transport personnel and customs to any excursions.
Decade at a Glance
The 90s represent a change in the fundamental nature of World Courier’s core business. Time is no longer the only consideration - other variables including temperature control, specialized packaging and multi-center coordination increase in prominence. World Courier demonstrates expertise as a specialist by playing an integral part in a pharmaceutical first involving Tamiflu; the expedited timeline of two years and a month from entry into humans to NDA filing then approval within four months. A few years previously this would have taken 10 years.
Packaging Materials
The advent of temperature controlled shipping.
• Polystyrene, low tech gel packs and wet ice first used for temperature control
• Active containers are first available: Use a powered plant and dry ice to maintain the required temperature.
• Cryogenic shippers are first seen in transportation: Usually contained in a ‘dry shipper’ - strongly engineered cylindrical metal container enclosed in a rigid outer case filled with nitrogen vapour at -196°c.
Decade at a Glance
World Courier’s track record extends beyond time-sensitive document delivery to parts and machinery, film footage, medicines, food samples, and even cryogenic shipments and human organs for transplant worldwide on a priority basis. The expertise gained in complex shipments of all types equips World Courier to develop the processes and technology to emerge as the leader in global biologics transportation.
Packaging Materials
World Courier provides dangerous goods packaging for the transport of petrol and other flammable material samples.
Decade at a Glance
The premium concept pioneered by World Courier takes off. Each inquiry is handled individually with shipments picked up around the clock and booked on the first available flight. The most urgent shipments are hand carries, with a personal courier getting deliveries from A to B.
World Courier becomes the provider of choice for secure document delivery by shipping and advertising agencies, the banking and financial community, multinationals, engineering consortiums and the legal profession.
The World Courier network is established with locations opening worldwide, operating a true 24/7 international operation and differentiating from competitors by reach, service levels and speed of delivery.
So World Courier was born...
on commercial airline flights. The package would be picked up at the shipper’s place of business, driven to the airport, airway bill purchased and loaded on to the first, most direct flight to the destination. The flight would be met in the destination city by an agent who would clear customs and deliver to the consignee’s door.
Jim, as he was known, was a grain broker. This industry had a specialized need for the rapid shipment of documents (letters of credit, bills of lading and ships’ manifest) to various international points in order to arrange overseas shipments of grain. No existing service was able to meet the strict time and efficiency requirements. So Jim founded a business to offer an alternative to the US postal service - he would ship each document package separately as loose loaded freight
2000s
1990s
1980s
1970s
1960s
2000s
1990s
1980s
1970s
1960s
2000s
1990s
1980s
1970s
1960s
2000s
1990s
1980s
1970s
1960s
2000:
During the Sydney Olympics a Dutch swimmer leaves his lucky swimming costume at home. World Courier ensures it arrives in Australia, from Holland, in time for his race. He wins gold and establishes an Olympic and World record.
2010:
Nearly one million ants are moved from Austria to Finland, the result of three years’ work on a PhD project. All of the ants arrived alive and well.
2015:
Watch Video
World Courier ships a prototype car from Germany to New Zealand with a clever approach to packaging, saving the manufacturer hundreds of thousands of dollars they would have spent on chartering a 747.
2000:
Launches Bio-STAR, a proprietary cutting-edge project management system designed to handle complex clinical trial shipments and manage investigator sites in global multicentre clinical trials.
2000:
Cord blood shipping starts - an industry first which is vital in enabling stem cell research.
November 2010:
World Courier Ground Europe is acquired to provide specialized ground shipping, with 55 locations across Europe.
2004:
Development of the storage network starts with investigational drug storage/distribution facilities built in Lima, Sao Paulo, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Mexico City.
Late 2000s:
Becomes preferred supplier to the World Health Organization (WHO), Center for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
2009:
World Courier becomes logistics partner to
Tara Pacific, a scientific research mission working to understand the environmental impact to the world’s oceans.
April/May 2010:
Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption puts World Courier’s contingency planning to the test as European airspace is closed. Service is maintained even under these challenging conditions - including enabling a life-saving transplant to take place by moving bone marrow cells from Bristol to Perth with cross-continental driving and complex airline routing.
2010:
Receives company-wide ISO 14001:2004 certification for implementation of a global workplace-oriented environmental policy.
2011 - 2015:
World Courier’s position as the leading cell & gene therapy logistics provider is further cemented by handling a complex trial for a leading US biotech company. Spanning four years and 50,000+ shipments - 99.87% are delivered on time and
within temperature.
2015:
New distribution facility opens in Melbourne, the first
in AmerisourceBergen’s global network to be purpose-built to support clinical logistics and commercial 3PL.
2015:
Innovative temperature-controlled Cocoon is developed by CORE Labs (Climate Optimisation Research and Engineering), World Courier’s innovation center where optimal packing solutions are identified and developed to meet and exceed client requirements.
2016:
In continued investment into the ‘personalized supply chain’, World Courier (in partnership with the Medical Research Network) establishes a direct-to-patient offering that removes barriers to care for patients and enables our clients to access and retain a broader patient pool, despite complex logistics.
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John Butler
President, World Courier
“We’ve spent nearly five decades building a global network of unsurpassed knowledge, worked diligently to develop and adhere to the most stringent quality processes and invested significant capital to develop new technologies that support complex logistics, particularly pharmaceutical. It is our belief that by supporting the innovators of medicine, we support the evolution of the healthcare industry - and ultimately the health of patients.”
Decade at a Glance
Packaging Materials
2009
Formalization of existing SOPs and Quality Management systems makes World Courier the first company to deliver fully-integrated GxP-compliant transport, storage and distribution services to the pharmaceutical industry.
2012
Watch Video
Joins the AmerisourceBergen family of companies. World Courier becomes not only a specialist logistics provider, but a clinical commercialization partner through the capabilities of the AmerisourceBergen group.
2016
World Courier’s network of associates grows to 2400 people in more than 140 company-owned offices in 50+ countries. The investigational drug depot network spans 14 strategic and emerging markets: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Singapore and South Africa.
1992:
British soccer matches, typically played on the weekend, are recorded by the BBC and the tapes sent to Europe by hand carry each Sunday, so that audiences on the continent can watch the matches that evening.
1990s:
Dressing the stars: World Courier transports dresses, by hand carry, from designers to actresses attending the Oscars ceremony.
1990s:
1990s:
The start of the transport of breath samples, looking for exhaled metabolites in trials for life threatening diseases.
1997:
World Courier is certified by IATA to provide in-house Dangerous Goods training to staff and bio-medical users, and this is offered worldwide.
1994:
World Courier and Jim Berger celebrate 25 years in business.
1994:
World Courier hosts first of 20 global biomedical seminars, in London. As the first logistics provider to attend and host global biomedical seminars, World Courier demonstrates a commitment to and knowledge in the pharmaceutical industry.
1993:
The complete free movement of goods in the EU begins; no longer a requirement to clear customs.
Early 1990s:
Development and launch of the first proprietary order and entry system, World-STAR, providing an improved communication infrastructure between offices, end-to-end monitoring of all shipments and access to a full audit trail.
Decade at a Glance
Packaging Materials
1992
World Courier begins an extensive internal quality review of each office in preparation for ISO 9001 certification. Every World Courier office in the network achieves accreditation over the next two years.
1989:
The Berlin Wall comes down, and World Courier facilitates the first clinical trial between East and West Germany.
1989:
Explosive cartridges are an essential component for the first airbags in cars, and World Courier transports them.
1984:
Becomes known as the ‘debt restructuring courier’
for the role played in handling debt restructuring agreements between developing countries and US banks caused by the global recession. More than 5000 related documents handled by the first quarter of ’84.
1980:
World Courier flies the ‘Who shot JR’ videotape to London for BBC broadcast.
1985:
1985 World Courier TV Commercial (30s)
1989:
First dry ice shipment is made, radically changing the face of the specialist logistics industry by allowing temperatures to be maintained for longer times and distances.
1989:
Dangerous Goods handling procedure is initiated for operational staff worldwide.
1986:
Starts to carry the first HIV samples in the US
and Europe.
1984:
World Courier’s workforce grows to more than
800 people.
1980:
World Courier's new Eurolink hub is established in Frankfurt to provide late evening pick-ups and guaranteed 9am deliveries between every major European city and the US.
World Courier Canada handles the first clinical trial related to HIV - lobbying airlines to transport samples allows the scientific community to progress AIDS research. A milestone that opens the door for future evolution of both the company and the pharmaceutical industry alike.
1989
World Courier handles the first shipments in cryogenics and human organ transplants, setting the standard in bio-medical transportation.
1984
Packaging Materials
Decade at a Glance
Late 70s:
World Courier establishes contracts with several major banks to deliver cancelled cheques for international clearance. This potential interest saving service is in such high demand that World Courier flies a private plane five nights a week from YUL/BOS/NYC/YUL (in addition to other regular intercontinental routes) to facilitate it.
Late 1970s:
Two different business units emerge - World Courier for documents and Industrial Courier for dangerous goods.
1975:
The family business, staffed initially by Jim, his wife Frances, his brother Bill and a handful of associates is now 25 people strong.
Early 1970s:
The first office outside the US opens in London, followed shortly by Amsterdam. The Amsterdam office played a vital role as a communications center between NYC and the rest of Europe and the Middle East by transmitting telex messages to agents in the region.
1971:
The World Courier name comes into being with the incorporation of World Courier, Inc in New York.
World Courier continues its global expansion, incorporating in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Argentina, Hong Kong, Denmark, Chile, Singapore, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, South Africa, Japan.
1975 - 1979
World Courier begins to develop a worldwide operational network of couriers on-board private aircraft, chartered aircraft, helicopter transport and on the ground to enhance priority service.
1970 - 1975
Packaging Materials
Decade at a Glance
Scroll down to explore the evolution of World Courier through the decades, from launch to present day and the milestones and progression in between.
1 Oct 1969:
NYC - LHR: the first World Courier shipment takes place.
Learn more about our founder
The business is established by James R Berger - in the same year as DHL and four years before FedEx.
1969
World Courier
Our History
