BOOMING demand across Europe for express e-commerce shipments has prompted DHL Express to set up a new EUR123 million (US$136 million) 15,000-square metre logistics centre at Cologne-Bonn airport.
'We expect continued growth in the coming years, especially in cross-border e-commerce trade,' DHL Express vice president Travis Cobb.
Equipped with 3D scanners and vacuum lifters, the hub's sorting centre can process up to 20,000 shipments per hour on its 2.5 kilometre conveyor belt, reported American Shipper.
The Cologne hub also uses an innovative ice-energy-storage system to heat and cool the 12,000-square-metre warehouse and 3,000 square metres of office space. The system uses 1.3 million litres of storage capacity and 18 kilometres of piping to ensure the hub stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Combined with a heat pump and solar panels on the roof, the new facility is entirely emissions-free, according to DHL.
'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,' said the hub's managing director Detlef Schmitz.
Said DHL Express CEO John Pearson: '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.'
WORLD SHIPPING
'We expect continued growth in the coming years, especially in cross-border e-commerce trade,' DHL Express vice president Travis Cobb.
Equipped with 3D scanners and vacuum lifters, the hub's sorting centre can process up to 20,000 shipments per hour on its 2.5 kilometre conveyor belt, reported American Shipper.
The Cologne hub also uses an innovative ice-energy-storage system to heat and cool the 12,000-square-metre warehouse and 3,000 square metres of office space. The system uses 1.3 million litres of storage capacity and 18 kilometres of piping to ensure the hub stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Combined with a heat pump and solar panels on the roof, the new facility is entirely emissions-free, according to DHL.
'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,' said the hub's managing director Detlef Schmitz.
Said DHL Express CEO John Pearson: '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.'
WORLD SHIPPING