ACU_November 2016 Final Draft

GLOBAL NEWS
DHL ups investment in Leipzig hub to €655 million
LEIPZIG: DHL Express recently opened
its new multi-million sorting center at
its European air freight hub in Leipzig,
Germany, bringing to €655 million
(about Dh2.644 billion) its total
investments in the facilities so far.
The expansion costing
€230 million covers a
total area of 44,000
square meters, of which
40,000 square meters is
d e d i c a t e d t o t h e
warehouse building and
4,000 square meters to
modern office facilities,
DHL said in a statement.
The new expansion is a
strong reflection of the
importance of Leipzig
Hub to trade activities
w i t h i n E u r o p e a n d
throughout the world, it
noted.
DHL's new state-of-the-art sorting
facility can sort bulkier and heavier
shipments on a fully automated basis.
A b o u t 1 5 0,0 0 0 s h i p m e n t s o f
production work can be done per hour
at the site.
“The successful launch of our
expanded hub and the new sorting
facility is a further step that reinforces
the importance of Leipzig as our main
European express hub,” said Frank
Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL
Group, at the opening ceremony on
October 12.
Appel said he is particularly delighted
with the creation of new jobs at the
hub which now brings to nearly 5,000
their total employees in Leipzig.
DHL's new sorting technology is the
first of its kind in the industry. It
consists of a combination of various
innovative conveyor technologies,
enabling the fully automated handling
of packages with a weight of up to 170
kilograms, which would otherwise be
too heavy or bulky for standard
conveyor belts.