Europa Warehouse in Birmingham

Southgate Packaging - sole packing contractor for Europa Warehouse - has dispatched over five million test kit bags since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and continues to issue around 100,000 tests a week, the company has revealed.

Southgate Packaging operates its distribution centre in partnership with Europa Warehouse at its Minworth site in Birmingham.

The company designed the self-seal bag for the testing kits so that once the test is complete the bag can be resealed to minimise excessive handling. As well as packaging the Covid-19 testing kits, Southgate has increased its portfolio of sanitisation and wellness products.

Europa Warehouse is a division of independent logistics operator Europa Worldwide Group and has worked with Southgate for the past five years.

In 2015, Southgate relocated its whole distribution centre to operate from Europa’s 16,540 m2 hub. The partnership facilitated a period of rapid growth for Southgate and has enabled the company to improve its customer service levels and despatch capabilities.

Commented Craig Turner, MD of Southgate Packaging: “It has been a great honour to support the NHS with supplying in excess of 100,000 self-seal bags for the Covid-19 test kits every week. They are having to be carried out via the postal system in the instances where persons are isolating or unable to travel to their regional testing sites.

“Southgate have been awarded many large PPE contracts through the early phase of this pandemic, and it has been very inspiring and fulfilling for our great team of people to know that their efforts and the hard work that they are putting in every day throughout this difficult crisis is supporting and underpinning some of the greatest needs that the people and government of this county are facing right now.

“The plastic self-seal bags that we have developed for the Covid testing kits are very effective and mean that they can be totally sealed off and ready to travel via the domestic postal service once completed. Obviously measures around maintaining the efficacy of the tests whilst ensuring there is no opportunity for cross contamination is paramount in this operation.”

Europa Warehouse director Maria Torrent-March commented: “Our essential work with Southgate shows how the logistics sector is vital, and we continue to do our bit to support the NHS at such a hugely challenging time.”

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