DHL Express opens new Tokyo facility

The international express parcel carrier more than doubled its cargo-handling operations in Tokyo with the opening of a new 20,000-square-meter facility.    DHL Express has opened a new 20,000-square-meter cargo-handling facility in Tokyo, Japan.
   The 9 billion yen (U.S. $74 million) facility more than doubles the operating area of DHL’s previous Tokyo distribution center. In addition, it offers bonded warehousing services and will house the Minato service center, which offers customer pick-up and delivery services to the surrounding area.
   DHL said its former Tokyo facility had reached full capacity.
   The new Tokyo service center joins a network of 29 service centers and 173 service points across Japan. It’s accessible to the Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as well as Tokyo’s business districts. Unmanned sorters and conveyors process up to 12,000 parcels per hour, the company said.
   “The opening of our new Tokyo facility comes as Japan moves to finalize its acceptance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which is expected to boost Japan’s GDP by up to JPY15 trillion (U.S. $137 billion) by 2030,” DHL Express CEO Ken Allen said in a statement. “Both the TPP and a general liberalization in trade policy will support the continued growth of the region in the coming years.”