DHL expands Leipzig hub

DHL’s new sorting center at its global air hub in Leipzig, Germany opened Thursday, enabling the company to sort bulkier and heavier shipments with automation, along with boosting the site’s handling capacity to 150,000 shipments per hour.    Express carrier DHL on Thursday officially opened a new 230 million euro (U.S. $253.8 million) sorting center at its global air hub in Leipzig, Germany, boosting processing capacity by almost 50 percent.
   The high-tech facility will enable the delivery company to sort bulkier and heavier shipments with automation. DHL can now handle 150,000 shipments per hour at its Leipzig air hub.
   The 44,000-squre meter expansion project also has resulted in the hiring of 1,300 more workers, bringing the total number of people employed by DHL at the hub to about 4,900.
   DHL said the sorting technology used at the Leipzig hub is the first of its kind in the industry. The conveyors enable the fully automated handling of packages weighing up to 170 kilograms, which would otherwise be too heavy or out-of-gauge for standard conveyor belts.
   The company said the new sort system will increase capacity and delivery speed for customers.