Logistics companies are gearing up for a permanent corona vaccine boom

Dusseldorf No company logo, no fluttering flags at the porter’s lodge, instead an impenetrable fence that shields the extensive area from unwanted intruders. The two huge halls of Kuehne + Nagel (K + N) are not even noted on Google Maps, although together they are larger than four football fields.

The forwarding company has every reason to be secretive: Here, on the banks of the Meuse in eastern Belgium, experts estimate that more than a tenth of the global Covid-19 vaccines are handled, which makes the buildings under arctic temperatures one of the largest vaccine distribution centers the world makes. If the facilities were targeted by saboteurs or gangs of thieves, the effects on the international course of the pandemic would be devastating.