Pharmaceutical cold chain transport (2–8 °C)
10 providers list a pharma / GDP service across Australia.
Pharmaceutical cold chain transport moves medicines, vaccines and other temperature-sensitive health products at a controlled temperature, most often 2–8 °C for refrigerated lines. Good Distribution Practice (GDP) guidance, such as the PIC/S GDP guide, expects qualified vehicles or packaging, calibrated temperature monitoring and evidence that the range was held. This page lists carriers that state a pharma or GDP service; check each profile for temperature monitoring, reports and accreditations.
How to choose a pharma carrier
- Temperature range: 2–8 °C, frozen or controlled room temperature, as the product label requires; ask whether the vehicle or packaging is qualified for that range.
- Monitoring and reports: profiles show temperature monitoring, by data logger or live telematics, and whether reports are provided, where the carrier states them.
- Evidence: ask which GDP guide the carrier follows and for audit reports or certificates; accreditations it states appear on its profile with the public sources behind them.
- Excursions: agree in writing what happens if the temperature leaves the range, who is told and how fast.
- Delivery windows: hospitals, pharmacies and clinics often take deliveries only at set times; confirm the carrier can meet them.
Australian rules and guides at a glance
The code is applied through state and territory wholesaler licensing. Strive for 5 is the national guideline; Victoria and Western Australia require providers who receive government-funded vaccines to follow it, and Western Australia extends it to those responsible for transporting them. The PIC/S guide is international guidance. Each name links to its official source.
- Australian Code of Good Wholesaling Practice for Medicines in Schedules 2, 3, 4 and 8 (external site) (TGA, a code of practice): covers wholesalers, third-party logistics providers among them, that store or supply these medicines, with sections on transport and cold chain medicines; ask the carrier how its procedures meet those sections.
- National Vaccine Storage Guidelines, Strive for 5 (external site) (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, a national guideline, 4th edition 2025): covers how immunisation providers keep vaccines at +2 °C to +8 °C; ask the carrier how it keeps vaccine consignments in that range and records it.
- PIC/S Guide to Good Distribution Practice for Medicinal Products (external site) (PIC/S, international guidance): covers the distribution of medicines, including qualified transport equipment and calibrated temperature monitoring; ask the carrier for evidence that its vehicles or packaging are qualified for your range.
Pharmaceutical warehousing and cold storage (2–8 °C)
Between transport legs, medicines may be held in a cold store. Cold storage facilities that state a pharma 2–8 °C range are listed with their capacity and storage terms; ask the operator how it monitors the room and whether it works to the wholesaling code.
Vaccines and refrigerated medicines
Vaccines have their own national storage guideline, and many other medicines also need refrigeration. The answers below cover which medicines need cold storage and what vaccine storage and transport require.
Pharmaceutical cold chain FAQs
Can a food refrigerated carrier also move medicines?
It can if it holds the range on the label, usually 2–8 °C, and can prove it; check too that your own licence and quality agreements allow it. Food in transport falls under the Food Standards Code, while medicine distribution follows GDP guidance and, for wholesalers, the TGA wholesaling code. Ask for evidence that the vehicle or packaging is qualified for the range and how medicines are kept apart from food loads.
What medications need to be kept cold?
Vaccines, insulin and some other medicines, such as certain antibiotic liquids made up for children, need refrigeration, usually at 2–8 °C. The product label and your pharmacist are the authority for each medicine. In transport and storage, the shipper sets the range and the carrier or cold store must hold it and keep records, so ask operators for temperature reports.
How should vaccines be stored in the cold chain?
In Australia, vaccines are stored and transported between +2 °C and +8 °C, aiming for +5 °C, under the National Vaccine Storage Guidelines known as Strive for 5. Use purpose-built vaccine fridges and record the temperature. If it goes outside the range, isolate the stock, don’t use or discard it, and get advice from your state or territory health department. Carriers moving vaccines should supply temperature records for every consignment.
What is required during vaccine transport?
Vaccines must stay between +2 °C and +8 °C for the whole journey and be protected from freezing and from direct sunlight, as Strive for 5 and state health guidance set out. In Victoria, every government-funded vaccine delivery carries a single-use indicator that records the temperature in transit and alarms on a heat or freeze breach, and the receiver checks it on arrival. Ask a carrier how it records each consignment and who sees the record.
What should a pharma carrier’s temperature record show?
The PIC/S GDP guide expects the temperature monitoring equipment used in transport to be maintained and calibrated, and the carrier to be able to show that products stayed within their required range. In practice, ask for a record that covers the whole trip at regular intervals, names the consignment and the vehicle, and flags any reading outside the range with its time and how long it lasted.
For chilled goods that are not medicines, compare chilled and refrigerated storage and the carriers on the interstate refrigerated transport page.