FedEx Logistics, Inc., a subsidiary of FedEx Corp is providing essential supply chain services to support the fight against COVID-19. FedEx is supplying Medline personal protective equipment (PPE) from a FedEx Logistics facility located in the Panama Pacifico Free Trade Zone and Panama, to hospitals in South America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Medline is a manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies and clinical programs. To date, over 850,200 face masks have been shipped to hospitals throughout the region with help from FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company.
“FedEx Logistics is helping to protect front-line workers at hospitals throughout Latin America at this critical time,” said Jeff Euler, vice president of the Americas, FedEx Logistics. “We are honored to serve these brave men and women and to be an essential part of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The operation to get emergency supplies to hospitals began March 10 as the virus continued its global spread. To date, around 2,000 boxes, each with 300 masks, have been distributed throughout the Caribbean and another 1,000 boxes to Central America. Several more containers full of PPE are on the way to Panama for distribution to these areas and other customers in South America.
The equipment includes face masks, gloves, shoe covers and disposable clothing — everything that will help to protect doctors, nurses and hospital administrators.
FedEx Logistics receives the equipment from global manufacturers, and then packages and fulfills orders, in a Free Trade Zone that is home to many multinational companies that do business throughout Latin America, including Medline.
“FedEx Logistics was agile and acted with a sense of urgency to provide essential supply chain services, enabling us to get protective equipment to where it is needed the most,” said Oscar Chavarria, vice president, Latin America, Medline. “And FedEx Express provided a very reliable service despite many challenges in the current environment.”
In August last year, FedEx Logistics became the third-party logistics provider for all of Medline’s medical consumables and patient-care products in the Latin America region.
