Rafed, the newly founded healthcare procurement firm, and Abu Dhabi Ports, the region's leading logistics, shipping and trade facilitator, have signed a partnership agreement to jointly open the UAE's largest cold store delivery centre for healthcare and medical supplies. Both organisations are part of ADQ, one of the largest holding firms in the country, with a diverse portfolio of big companies covering key industries of the diversified economy of Abu Dhabi.
Under the strategic partnership arrangement, as the fourth-party logistics service provider of Rafed, Abu Dhabi Ports will provide a state-of-the-art storage and resource distribution solution for upstream, midstream and downstream activities. The proposed distribution centre will be the biggest centre in the UAE, the most technologically advanced. The alliance will provide customers with seamless offerings and synergies across various market sectors, primarily allowing them to offer local and international supply chains of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumables.
The "Hope Consortium" launched last week are all part of the Abu Dhabi Ports Community and Rafed. The consortium, spearheaded by the Abu Dhabi Department of Health, is a public-private collaboration which provides a full supply chain approach to tackle vaccine transport, demand forecasting, procurement, training and emerging technology infrastructure, and to promote the worldwide availability of vaccines.
Rashed Saif Al Qubaisi, Chief Executive Officer, Rafed, said "The first strategic partnership of Rafed will prove crucial in enhancing healthcare services across the Emirates. As part of our strategy, we are developing a new business model that enhances the healthcare industry's procurement process that is prepared for future growth and provides exceptional value, productivity and quality."
"As their sole logistics service provider, the partnership between Rafed and Abu Dhabi Ports is a testament to our capacity and experience to successfully handle the end-to-end supply chain and related value-added facilities to benefit the national healthcare industry," said Robert Sutton, Head of Logistics Cluster, Abu Dhabi Ports.
"By being part of ADQ, we are able to exploit and develop our skills in various fields to satisfy the need of the public and private sector, thereby promoting the larger aims of the organisation." At its dedicated 19,000 square metre temperature-controlled warehouse facility in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi, KIZAD, Abu Dhabi Ports recently announced its improved logistics capability for the handling and delivery of more than 70 million COVID-19 vaccines at its dedicated 19,000 square metre temperature-controlled warehouse facility in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi, KIZAD.
The highly sophisticated plant is fitted with a temperature range of 2 to 8 degrees as well as a more drastic range of -80 degrees to store vaccines and other medicinal goods. The facility is fitted with digitally controlled temperature and humidity systems via a monitoring dashboard.