DHL Express has opened its new logistics centre at Cologne-Bonn Airport, with the €123 million hub covering 15,000 sq m.
The hub features sorting technology and an innovative system to heat and cool the 12,000 sq m warehouse and 3,000 sq m of offices.
In cooperation with Cologne-Bonn Airport, DHL Express is using an ice-energy-storage solution with over 1.3 million litres holding capacity and 18 kilometres of piping to cool the hub in the summer and keep it warm in the winter.
John Pearson, CEO of DHL Express says: “As the experts in export and import, we can only grow by ensuring top quality, which is why we invest more than a billion euros each year in employee training, infrastructure and digitalisation. The main goal here is to increase our transport and delivery capacity for time-sensitive TDI shipments to meet the forever growing customer demand in the area of e-commerce.”
DHL completed the upgrade in August 2019 following a two-year building and renovation phase.
The sorting centre features new technologies to process up to 20,000 shipments per hour on 2.5 kilometres of conveyor belts.
Other additions include 3D scanners and vacuum lifters to make life easier for the hub’s 340 employees.
Detlef Schmitz, managing director of the DHL Express hub says the €123 million investment shows commitment to the Cologne-Bonn region.
He says: “This also makes the hub an even more important part of DHL’s international network. With the new direct route between Hong Kong and Cologne, 28 daily flight movements, and our use of state-of-the-art technologies, we are proud to be contributing – sustainably – to the worldwide growth of DHL Express.”
