DHL Express invests €123 million at Cologne-Bonn Airport

DHL Express has opened its new, environmentally friendly logistics centre at the Cologne-Bonn Airport. The new 15,000 m² hub features cutting edge sorting technology and an innovative system to heat and cool the warehouse (12,000 m²) and offices (3,000 m²). In cooperation with Cologne-Bonn Airport, DHL Express is using a huge ice-energy-storage solution with over 1.3 million litres holding capacity and 18 kilometres of piping. This ensures the hub to stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Combined with a heat pump and solar panels on the roof, the solution is entirely emissions-free.

John Pearson, CEO DHL Express says: “The main goal 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. At the same time, we’re continuously improving process efficiency. Our recently published quarterly results show pretty clearly that we’re on the right track.” DHL completed the upgrade of its air hub at Cologne-Bonn Airport in August 2019 following a two-year building and renovation phase. In the hub’s sorting centre, several new technologies allow DHL Express to process up to 20,000 shipments per hour on its 2.5-kilometre long conveyor belt.

Detlef Schmitz, Managing Director of the DHL Express hub adds: “This renewed opening 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.”

Continued growth

DHL Express is present in over 220 countries and territories, it transports over 400 million shipments per year. 23 hubs worldwide form the backbone of the DHL Express network, which includes over 260 dedicated aircraft, 17 partner airlines, and a capacity for over 3,000 flights daily to over 500 airports. In 2018, the company announced its plans to add 14 new Boeing 777 aircraft to its own fleet.

“We expect continued growth in the coming years, especially in cross-border e-commerce trade,” says Travis Cobb, EVP Global Network Operations, DHL Express. “By modernizing our air fleet, we can increase the number of our intercontinental connections and do this with reduced carbon emissions and less fuel consumption. Next year we will deploy another six brand-new planes from our Boeing order.”