DHL today announced it will establish its US$ 175 million North Asia Hub in Shanghai in 2010,enabling it to strengthen its position in China and expand connections from Asia to Europe and the
USA. The decision means the Chinese commercial metropolis has won over Incheon Airport, Korea,which had bid to become the new regional gateway.The decision was publicly announced at a signing ceremony today between Dan McHugh, CEO DHLExpress Asia Pacific, and Wu Nian Zu, chairman and president of the Shanghai Airport Group. The newfacility, to be located at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, is due to go into service in thesecond half of 2010.
The 55,000 sqm North Asia Hub will be constructed alongside the planned runway 3 at Pudong’sCargo Area West. The Automated Sorting System will have capacity to sort conveyable shipments to apeak capacity of up to 20,000 parcels and 20,000 documents per hour. There will also be a QualityControl Center (QCC) to proactively monitor all DHL shipments in the air and on the ground.
John Mullen, CEO of DHL Express, commented: “As a global logistics provider we are constantlyimproving worldwide connectivity. The Shanghai hub will strengthen our regional as well as globalnetwork, enabling DHL to continuously meet and exceed our customers’ expectations towards transittimes and handling capabilities. The development of a new DHL Express North Asia Hub in Shanghai isalso proof of our strong commitment and confidence in this dynamic region.”
Shanghai will provide added flexibility for its customers with guaranteed Time Definitemorning delivery for more major cities in North Asia. DHL said. In particular, customers in theYangtse Delta area would benefit from clearly improved transit times throughout Northern Asia. Thisregion now accounts for about 35% of total Chinese imports and exports. DHL said it already has astrong presence in China with four major gateways in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzen. Theexpress operator currently runs over 500 commercial and dedicated flights per week in and out ofChina.
The Shanghai facility will become one of DHL’s regional hubs in Asia alongside the CentralAsia hub in Hong Kong and the hubs in Bangkok, Singapore, Incheon and Sydney. These six hubs feedinto nearly 50 gateways at strategic locations in the Asia Pacific region. The Asia Pacific airnetwork is provided via over 20 dedicated aircraft serving more than 30 destinations in 16countries and territories, as well as more than 800 daily commercial flights.
DHL said it has been working to further boost its global aviation strategy, and providebetter global transport links for its customers. This year it entered two important strategicpartnerships: in June, DHL Express completed a strategic partnership transaction with air cargocarrier Polar Air, in which it holds a 49 percent stake; in September, DHL Express and LufthansaCargo also established a joint cargo airline. These partnerships, effective from late-2008 andApril 2009 respectively, will enable DHL to meet the anticipated strong increase in demand forcargo space between Asia Pacific and Europe as well as the US, providing customers with assuredlong-term airlift capacity for their shipments.
