DHL Express Spain is investing more than €23 million to triple the size of its regional hub at Vitoria Airport in the Basque Country to increase capacity in response to rising volumes and to improve service quality.
After obtaining the licence for the construction works on the facility from the city council last Friday, DHL will expand the existing hub by an additional 7,500 sqm, increasing its total area from 3,600 sqm to 11,100 sqm, in addition to 1,400 sqm in office space.
The €23 million investment will allow automated handling of 21,500 parcels per hour. Built in 2006, the terminal handled more than 3 million kg last year, which equals a 16% increase compared to 2014.
This expansion project is part of DHL's strategic plan in the Iberian Peninsula for the coming years and highlights the importance of Vitoria as an air and road hub in its global distribution network. DHL Spain operates over 20 daily flights at Vitoria Airport to Leipzig, East Midlands (UK), Milan, Brussels, Lisbon and Porto as well as to Santiago de Compostela, Alicante, Valencia and Seville within Spain.
DHL Express already increased capacity on its flights in 2015 responding to the existing demand and projected growth. In addition to the existing routes to and from the Italian city of Bergamo, it added a daily flight to Alicante with a B737, which represents a cargo capacity increase of 120% on this route. This flight now continues to the Moroccan port city of Tangiers, returning to Vitoria via Alicante.
Earlier this year, DHL replaced the Boeing 757 freighter flying from Seville via Vitoria to the Leipzig hub in Germany with an Airbus 300 offering greater cargo and volume capacity with 45 tons which almost doubles the capacity of the previous freighter. The new aircraft, which makes daily flights from Tuesday to Friday, will allow the company to expand operations in Andalusia, DHL said.
Thanks to its interior design, the new Airbus 300 enables the transportation of large components. Its first operation was the loading and transport of an F1 car to Bahrain. The new aircraft is equipped with a special landing system for visibility "0", which enables safe delivery of goods, regardless of weather conditions. It also reduces CO2 emissions compared to the B757 previously used on the route.
So far, this type of aircraft has only been used in Madrid and Barcelona, but with the new direct flights between Seville, Vitoria and Leipzig and vice versa, DHL said it can improve its service and expand the capacity to export from and import to Andalusia.
In September last year, DHL started regular flights on Saturdays every week from Vitoria Airport to Leipzig, with connections to Seville, Santiago, Alicante and Valencia. The Saturday flights had previously only operated from time to time. The B757 flights, with capacity for 22 tonnes, relieve the volumes accumulated over the weekend for Monday.
Jesús Sánchez, Director General of DHL Aviation, commented on the regular Saturday flights: "Given the outlook for continuous growth of the commercial activity of our customers, this is another example of DHL’s improvement policy. Our goal is to offer a faster and higher quality service, thus contributing to their success."
