As 2026 begins, the Pharma & Healthcare sector continues to operate in a landscape shaped by high regulatory demands, geopolitical uncertainty and growing expectations for transparency, sustainability and reliability.
Across LEMAN’s global Pharma & Healthcare organisation, we see strong momentum and increasing demand for logistics solutions that combine operational excellence with compliance, digital visibility and long-term partnership.
Strengthening regional distribution networks
In Northern Europe, pharma distribution volumes continue to grow, driving a shift towards more frequent departures and more integrated cross-border setups. Daily operations, tighter delivery windows and increasing complexity place high demands on quality management, temperature control and real-time visibility.
This development underlines a broader market trend: pharma supply chains are becoming more regionalised and more tightly coordinated, with a strong focus on reliability, risk mitigation and continuity of supply.
End-to-end focus on quality and compliance
Quality and compliance remain at the core of everything we do within Pharma & Healthcare. From GDP-compliant warehousing and temperature-controlled road transport to validated airfreight solutions and data integrity, customers increasingly expect their logistics partners to take full ownership of compliance across the entire supply chain.
Investments in quality systems, audits, training and documentation are therefore not just regulatory necessities, but key enablers of trust and long-term collaboration.
Advanced temperature-controlled airfreight
Within airfreight, demand for specialised life science solutions continues to increase, particularly for clinical trials, biotech and advanced therapies. This includes transport in controlled ranges such as +2–8°C, +15–25°C, as well as frozen and deep-frozen solutions down to -20°C and -80°C.
The combination of validated packaging, active and passive solutions, dry ice handling and real-time monitoring enables safe and transparent transport of highly sensitive products across global lanes.
Sustainability moving from ambition to action
Sustainability is moving from strategic ambition to operational reality in pharma logistics. Customers are increasingly requesting concrete CO₂ reduction initiatives, alternative fuels, and transparent environmental reporting.
In road transport, electrification and low-emission solutions are progressing rapidly, supported by improvements in vehicle range, charging infrastructure and total cost of ownership. Collaboration between shippers, carriers and logistics providers will be key to translating climate targets into scalable, compliant and economically viable solutions.
Looking ahead
The outlook for 2026 is characterised by continued growth in complexity – but also by strong opportunities for those supply chains that combine robustness, compliance, digitalisation and collaboration.
At LEMAN, we continue to invest in people, systems and partnerships to support the life science industry with reliable, compliant and future-ready logistics solutions – from local distribution to global airfreight and integrated end-to-end setups.
We look forward to continuing the dialogue with our partners and customers as the year unfolds.