A United Parcel Service (UPS) truck is parked at a UPS drop yard in Vernon, California, on October 28, 2025.
Tama Mario | Getty Images
united parcel service The company is investing $48 million in 27 temperature-controlled facilities as the industry embarks on a boom in medical logistics, CNBC has learned exclusively.
The facilities are located in the Americas, Europe and Asia and are optimized for moving cargo that must be kept at specific temperatures. The company said the investment will help it stay ahead of the boom in medicines and medicines that need to be kept at a constant temperature, such as some GLP-1 products, by improving speed and end-to-end processing and distribution processes.
“Our global cross-dock facilities strengthen our end-to-end cold chain capabilities to safely and reliably deliver critical treatments to patients around the world,” said Kate Gutman, president of international, healthcare and supply chain solutions at UPS. “This initiative, and all of our work in medical logistics, stems from a deep understanding that we do more than just move cargo.”
According to Growth Market Reports, demand for temperature-sensitive biologics is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.3% through 2033, reaching a market value of approximately $39.1 billion. Many new drugs must be stored at specific temperatures to remain effective, making medical logistics more important than ever before, UPS said.
According to the World Health Organization, up to 50% of the world’s vaccines are wasted every year, a significant portion of which is due to cold chain storage issues.
“These investments reflect our commitment to continue to align our leading end-to-end supply chain to protect innovative treatments and diagnostics and support better patient outcomes,” UPS Healthcare President John Bora said in a statement.
UPS’s move comes in the wake of increased investment in this area across the industry, particularly the rapid rise in GLP-1 drugs. something like medicine novo nordiskWegovy and Ozempic require strict refrigeration and temperature control during transportation. A November KFF poll found that one in eight Americans takes GLP-1.
UPS CEO Carol Tomé said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call in April that health care remains the company’s top priority and one of its biggest growth areas.
“Our global healthcare portfolio has grown market share every year since 2021,” she said on the conference call. “And in the first quarter of this year, we delivered our first-ever quarterly healthcare revenue of $3 billion, with all three of our segments delivering year-over-year revenue growth.”
Tomé added that UPS remains committed to “focusing on that area in a meaningful way.”
