Product
Transport of active substances (APIs) and pharmaceutical raw materials
Inbound supply to manufacturing sites: active substance, excipient and starting material, with temperature control where the specification requires it and the documentary traceability a customer manufacturing under GMP needs.
Why is API transport not the same as finished product?
Because the rules change, the counterpart changes and what the customer stands to lose changes. Active substances have their own distribution guidelines — 2015/C 95/01 of the European Commission — and the consignee is not a pharmacy or a wholesaler but a plant about to manufacture with that material. An incident does not affect a carton: it affects a whole production batch and its batch record.
- The counterpart
- Procurement and production, as well as quality. The first question is not the price, it is whether the material will clear goods-in with its paperwork in order.
- The packaging
- Drum, sack, big bag, container or shrink-wrapped pallet, often with a numbered seal that must be respected and logged.
- The consequence
- A rejection at plant goods-in halts manufacturing. The cost of the incident is not the cost of the transport.
- The documentation
- Certificate of analysis, delivery note and seals must all arrive consistent with each other and with the shipment.
What is controlled in a pharmaceutical raw material shipment?
- Seal integrity, logged at loading and checked at unloading.
- Temperature, where the material specification sets one: some raw materials are controlled room temperature and some are refrigerated.
- Segregation: dedicated full truck load, with no third-party goods in the box.
- Cleanliness and condition of the box before loading, documented.
- Transport traceability: who drove, by which route and with what thermal record.
Bulk or palletised?
Both, always in full truck loads. The usual formats are shrink-wrapped pallets and drums or sacks on pallets; big bags and containers move the same way provided the packaging is the shipper’s and arrives sealed. What is not done is consolidating pharmaceutical raw material with other goods in the same trailer: segregation is the point a supplier audit scrutinises most in this flow.
What about raw materials that are also dangerous goods?
They are assessed case by case before being accepted. A good share of solvents and some intermediates are classified under ADR, and that determines the vehicle, the driver’s training and the shipment documentation. The safety data sheet is always requested before confirming the service: it is the only way to know whether the material can move, under what conditions and with which authorisation.
Frequently asked questions
Can raw materials and finished product use the same carrier?
Yes, and it is a practical advantage: the same quality system, the same thermal record and the same traffic contact for both flows. What is not shared is the trip: each shipment travels as a dedicated full load.
What if the seal arrives broken?
It is documented before unloading, with a photograph and a timestamp, and reported to shipper and consignee so they can decide whether to accept the material. The carrier does not rule on the material’s fitness: it supplies the evidence of what happened and when.
Is a temperature record issued for raw materials too?
Yes, whenever the material has a thermal requirement, and in the same format as for finished product: trip graph, readings, door openings and a signed report at closing.
Need a full truck for pharmaceutical or refrigerated freight?
Tell us origin, destination, temperature range, product type and volume. A dedicated account manager comes back with a firm quote within one working day. If it is urgent, call.