International express service leader DHL Express plans to invest more than EUR1 billion annually in technology and infrastructure as part of its newly unveiled Strategy 2025 that focuses on digitalization, e-commerce and sustainability.
DHL Express presented its new strategy at the opening of its EUR123 million state-of-the art hub at Cologne-Bonn Airport in Germany.
“Digitalization, e-commerce and sustainability are at the core of the company’s journey to further improve growth through quality. By investing more than EUR 1 billion annually in technology and infrastructure and by putting the new green logistics center into operation, DHL clearly demonstrates its ambitions,” said DHL in a November 20 statement.
“The many new technologies at our Cologne hub are just one more example of this, and it shows the basis of our new Strategy 2025 as well,” explained John Pearson, CEO of DHL Express. “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 digitalization.”
The main goal is to increase the company’s transport and delivery capacity for time-sensitive shipments to meet growing customer demand in the area of e-commerce.
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 15,000 square-meter (m²) sorting center, with its 12,000 m² warehouse and 3,000 m² office space, several new technologies allow DHL Express to process up to 20,000 shipments per hour on its 2.5-kilometer-long conveyor belt.
Other additions include 3D scanners and vacuum lifters. Moreover, an ice energy storage system with over 1.3 million liters holding capacity and 18 kilometers of piping ensures the hub stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. This system in combination with a heat pump and solar panels on the roof makes this an entirely emissions free solution, said the statement.
“We expect continued growth in the coming years, especially in cross-border e-commerce trade,” said Travis Cobb, EVP of DHL global network operations. “By modernizing our air fleet, we can increase our intercontinental connections and do so with reduced carbon emissions and less fuel consumption. Next year, we will deploy another six brand-new planes from our Boeing order.”
In 2018, the company announced its plans to add 14 new Boeing 777 aircraft to its own fleet.
Photo courtesy of DHL