Today, DHL Express Germany marked the official start ofconstruction for its new Munich Airport facility with agroundbreaking ceremony. The building, which is being built onparking lots P 80 and P 80 West, will boast a gross floor area ofover 11,000 square meters. This will make the facility almost seventimes larger than the warehouse DHL Express currently rents atMunich Airport's cargo center. DHL Express will build and operatethe new site on land leased from the airport operator FlughafenMünchen GmbH (FMG).
The new facility comes in response to growing DHL Expressshipment volumes at the Munich gateway. Talking about thebusiness’s €104 million investment, Markus Reckling, ManagingDirector DHL Express Germany, explains "our old processing areacan’t keep pace with the growth in import and export volumes givencurrent digitalization and globalization trends. The new gatewayfacility at Munich Airport not only represents the next importantstep in our infrastructure plan but also enables us to prioritizeour customers by offering them an improved service." Onceoperational, the airside access allows aircraft parked on the apronto be reached directly from the new building. The gateway also hastwo so-called PUD fingers (pick-up and delivery), at which up to 65delivery vehicles can be handled simultaneously. For customers inthe Landsberg-Ingolstadt region in particular, this will translateinto faster pick-up and delivery times.
"Today is the groundbreaking ceremony for a win-win project: forDHL Express, Munich Airport, for Bavaria and for the people whowant to reliably send and receive urgent shipments worldwide. Withthe new Express Center, DHL is setting standards in logistics andsustainability. Munich Airport is an engine for the region and forBavaria as a whole," said State Minister Dr. Florian Herrmann,Member of the Bavarian Parliament and Head of the Bavarian StateChancellery.
Ground Breaking (from left to right): Timo Köpsel, DirectorGateway Munich DHL Express Germany; State Minister Dr FlorianHerrmann, Member of the Bavarian Parliament and Head of theBavarian State Chancellery; Nathalie Leroy, CEO Finance andInfrastructure Flughafen München GmbH; Markus Reckling, ManagingDirector DHL Express Germany; Jost Lammers, CEO Flughafen MünchenGmbH
In designing the building, DHL Express has placed considerableemphasis on energy-saving materials and technologies such asstate-of-the-art LED lighting technology, which will be installedthroughout the complex. What is more, the facility will be equippedwith a photovoltaic system that generates
100 kWpeak to power the building’s services, servers andcomputers. Heat pumps, supplemented by the airport’s districtheating system, will provide heat to the building. Plans also existfor 32 e-vehicle charging stations at the PUD fingers, two chargingpoints for apron vehicles, and charging points at the employeeparking lots. At the DHL Express facility in the nearby town ofUnterschleißheim, 10 e-vehicles are already in operation, with moreset to join them soon.
Jost Lammers, CEO of Flughafen München GmbH, welcomes the newfacility, saying that the groundbreaking ceremony sends an"extremely important signal for the future development of MunichAirport.” Continuing he says: "We see enormous potential in termsof air freight and express services. The strong commitment DHLExpress is making represents a sure sign of its confidence in thelocation. Bavarian businesses will benefit greatly from thegateway, with its highly efficient logistics offerings and widerange of airfreight destinations."
Currently, 72 employees are employed at the Munich gateway.Doubling in number, these will move into the new building oncommissioning. Meeting Transported Asset Protection Association(TAPA) security standards, the facility will also receive TAPAClass A certification, which is globally recognized as the highestairfreight security standard.
The new Munich Airport gateway facility is part of an extensiveDHL Express infrastructure improvement program that aims to growthe number of state-of-the-art shipment processing facilities inGermany – including Dortmund, Neu-Ulm and Bremen. The Munichgateway's regional service area stretches from Nuremberg in thenorth to Straubing in the northeast, Bad Aibling in the south andNeu-Ulm in the west. A daily flight also connects Munich to DHLExpress’s international hub in Leipzig. Other connections fromMunich include East Midlands in the United Kingdom(Monday–Thursday) and Malpensa in Italy (Friday).