After a little more than a year of construction, the time has come: DHL Global Forwarding is celebrating the opening of its new air freight hub at Frankfurt Airport. The project was realized by Fraport AG on an approximately 55,000 square meter plot in CargoCity South.
An air freight hall of approximately 24,500 square meters with 54 loading docks is available – it is planned to handle up to 300,000 tons of air freight for German and international customers.
Air Freight Hub
The existing properties of DHL Global Forwarding at the airport are being combined at the new location, it is stated. This is intended to allow more efficient handling of air freight, fewer truck movements, and shorter paths for employees.
Approximately 100
employees are employed at the new location, according to the information provided. With the new air freight hub, the aim is to increase handling capacities in Frankfurt for import and export and to be well-positioned for future growth.
“Frankfurt, with its central location in Europe, has become increasingly important for us as an air freight hub over the years. With the new location, we are turning our vision into reality: highest quality standards, state-of-the-art technology, and stronger consolidation. This sets the conditions for us to handle our growing transport volumes even more efficiently, faster, and sustainably,” says Tobias Schmidt, CEO DHL Global Forwarding Europe.
Everything Under One Roof
The facility includes flexible office and social spaces on 3,000 square meters in addition to
a freight hall. Among other things, it houses the European headquarters of the in-house capacity provider StarBroker, which handles the booking and coordination of air freight capacities for DHL Global Forwarding and controls the specially managed flight operations.
In this way, services such as consolidation and deconsolidation of air freight, customs clearance, handling for further transport by truck, but also organization of charter capacities are united under one roof. ULD handling technology is to be used, among other things, to achieve even greater efficiency and quality.
The property has been built to the latest ecological standards and is equipped with a photovoltaic system with a peak output of two megawatts. This is intended to feed sustainable electricity into the airport network.
The total
area of 55,000 square meters includes 25 truck parking spaces, 185 car parking spaces, and 20 charging stations for electric vehicles. The owner of the property is Fraport AG, which rents it to DHL Global Forwarding.
“The ceremonial opening of the state-of-the-art air freight hall by DHL Global Forwarding is an important milestone in the further development of Frankfurt Airport as a leading air freight hub. With the Cargo Hub Master Plan, Fraport plans to increase the cargo volume by a good 50 percent to around three million tons of air freight per year by 2040. The new hall with an annual turnover of 300,000 tons of freight is an important element,” says Anke Giesen, Executive Board Member for Retail and Real Estate
