Swiss supply chain giant Kuehne + Nagel, and global healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline have signed an end-to-end worldwide logistics partnership that will see Kuehne + Nagel run the core business of transporting products from the raw materials supplier to trade customers for GSK.

GSK has numerous suppliers, a large number of manufacturing units and a variety of specific routes to patients and consumers in one hundred countries.

Kuehne + Nagel said in a statement that it won the contract on account of its "maturity of integrated logistics provision and significant investment strategy in pharmaceuticals and consumer products logistics."

CEO of Kuehne + Nagel International AG, Detlef Trefzger, stated: "Our focus is to leverage existing experience and industry-specific solutions serving the pharmaceutical and consumer sector which will deliver incremental benefits to GSK.

"Our integrated logistics approach, comprising air, sea, overland services and Logistics Control Centres in four regional hubs will enable GSK's global supply chains to move to the next level of performance."