Antwerp, Belgium, 7th July 2009 – Univar, a leading European company specialising in the sales, marketing, application and safe handling of a wide range of chemicals and ingredients, announced that it is expanding its filling capabilities for food and pharmaceutical products by replacing dedicated tank trucks with Univar-branded swap bodies (31,000 litre ISO tanks).

This development, combined with Univar’s existing state-of-the-art white room, allows the company to support its customers in food and pharma with a one-stop-shop for sourcing, transport, filling and any other handling requirements.

A state-of-the-art white room facility
The white room facility Univar uses is a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical filling installation, located in Rotterdam. The facility complies with all IPEC GMP/GDP standards, thus meeting the stringent requirements for procedures, processes and hygiene. This makes it perfect for filling capabilities – especially for products such as food or pharma grade liquid chemicals, which are used, for example, as active pharmaceutical ingredients. “When we originally investigated possible solutions for this kind of facility, we found that there were no real suitable third party solutions. As a result, Univar teamed up with LBC tank terminals, one of the world’s largest operators of tank storage facilities for Liquid Bulk Chemical products, to build this white room facility,” explains Dennis van Bregt, Supply Chain & Quality Manager, Univar Europe.

New swap bodies next step in optimising and improving current filling capabilities for food and pharmaceutical ingredients

Univar has already been using dedicated transport, such as bulk tank-trucks, for many years. The company will now lease two ISO swap bodies, which will offer additional advantages to customers. Dedicated transport limits the risk of contamination from previously stored products and therefore guarantees effective and superior product stewardship. The truck, when loaded, is sealed by the supplier; the seals are checked by SGS, an independent surveyor, and only broken when the filling operation starts. When empty, the truck is sealed again, and these seals are broken only at the supplier’s loading station. Hence, at each step of the supply chain the traceability, the quality control and product stewardship are closely monitored.

‘Our extensive market research has shown that there is a great potential in the food and pharma markets, which is why Univar has decided to further expand its capabilities in these industries. We are already extremely well equipped for filling and handling of liquid food and pharma products thanks to our white room. By now offering dedicated transport, we are able to help our customers or suppliers optimise their supply chain in these specific markets,” said Henri-Marc Perrin, Supplier Director, Pharma & Household, EMEA, Univar Europe.

Univar Europe is present at CPhI (Stand CO9 in Hall 10) on 13-15 October 2009 and FIE – Food Ingredients Europe (Stand 8Q22 in Hall 8) on 17-19 November 2009 where it will demonstrate its latest product and service innovations for the Pharma and Food sectors respectively.

Operating from 56 distribution locations in 20 countries across Europe, Univar’s 2,400 local employees serve more than 50,000 European customers in a diverse range of industries including coatings, food, personal care, pharma and other major sectors.

About Univar
Univar is one of the world’s leading independent distributors of industrial and specialty chemicals and related services. Univar provides its customer base, made up of 250,000 customers, with a full portfolio of products. Univar operates a network of approximately 170 distribution centres throughout North America, Europe and China. In 2008, Univar reported sales of $9.4 billion.