DHL Express on Tuesday officially inaugurated a new $94 million international hub at Barcelona International Airport designed to handle growing volumes of express packages over the next 20 years.
The modern facility can process more than 20,000 pieces per hour, representing a sevenfold increase in capacity compared to the previous operation.
Earlier this month, DHL also relocated to a larger, more efficient gateway terminal at Helsinki airport, made possible by a $117 million investment. During the summer, the company opened a $140M air facility in Lyons, France.
The parcel logistics giant has operated its own aircraft at Barcelona airport since 1995, but outgrew the previous facility. The new building was completed in less than two years, DHL said in a news release.
DHL said cross-border parcel throughput in Barcelona grew by 30% over a five-year period that covered the frenzy of online buying during the pandemic. Volumes have since stabilized, along with global trade and e-commerce activity.
The 106,640-square foot warehouse facility connects air routes between Europe, America and North Africa, supporting more than 5,000 customers in Catalonia, DHL said. The hub will serve all four provinces in the region, as well as the Balearic Islands and Andorra. It features 22 loading and unloading positions for air containers, as well as 24 docks for trucks making daily deliveries.
The DHL Express cargo airline operates 10 flights per day from its terminal at Barcelona airport, as well as buying capacity on six intercontinental commercial flights. The company said it plans to expand operations with the addition of two new in-network flights and enhanced intercontinental connectivity through commercial flights.
“Spain plays a strategic role in the DHL Express global network thanks to its advanced logistics infrastructure and its geographical location, which serves as an unrivaled bridge between Europe, Africa, and especially Latin America — a very attractive market for Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises,” said Jesús Sánchez, senior vice president of hubs at DHL Express Europe.
DHL Express has two other hubs in Spain — Madrid and Vitoria — which also function as connection points to the company’s global network, and smaller facilities at six other locations. In total, DHL operates 16 of its own aircraft, conducting more than 40 flights per day and covering 26 routes in the country.
The Barcelona hub meets DHL’s long-term sustainability standards, with a solar-array for electricity production, 37 electric chargers for delivery vans and aircraft support equipment. Infrastructure is pre-installed to expand charging capacity to ensure at least two-thirds of the site’s vehicles operate free of carbon emissions. Additional measures include a greywater recovery system, tools for controlling and managing the hub’s daily energy consumption, and the use of intelligent LED lighting with automatic programming and presence sensors.
The inauguration of the Barcelona airport hub precedes other investments that DHL Spain is undertaking in Catalonia, including the opening of a new operational facility in Girona planned for this year. The company said it also plans to invest $47 million in Vitoria to create what will be the second-largest DHL Express aircraft maintenance hangar in Europe, expected to be operational in 2027.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.
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