DHL Express Germany has begun construction of its €104m (US$106.1m) Munich Airport facility in Germany, with relocation to the new site scheduled for 2024.
The building will have a gross floor area of approximately 11,000m2 , almost seven times larger than DHL Express’s current facility at the airport’s cargo center, and is being built on land leased from the airport operator, Flughafen München (FMG).
Once operational, the airside access will enable aircraft parked on the apron to be reached directly from the new building. The gateway also has two pickup and delivery (PUD) fingers, at which up to 65 delivery vehicles can be handled simultaneously. For customers in the Landsberg-Ingolstadt region in particular, this is expected to translate into faster pickup and delivery times.
The facility will be equipped with a photovoltaic system that generates 100kW peak to power the building’s services, servers and computers. Heat pumps, supplemented by the airport’s district heating system, will provide heat to the building. Plans also exist for 32 e-vehicle charging stations at the PUD fingers, two charging points for apron vehicles, and charging points at the employee parking lots. At the DHL Express facility in the nearby town of Unterschleißheim, 10 e-vehicles are already in operation, with more set to join them soon.
Currently, 72 employees are employed at the Munich gateway, and this is set to double in number in the new facility, with staff moving into the new building on its commissioning. Meeting Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) security standards, the facility will also receive TAPA Class A certification, which is globally recognized as the highest airfreight security standard.
The new Munich Airport gateway facility is part of an extensive DHL Express infrastructure improvement program that aims to grow the number of state-of-the-art shipment processing facilities in Germany – including Dortmund, Neu-Ulm and Bremen. Markus Reckling, managing director of DHL Express Germany, explained, “Our old processing area can’t keep pace with the growth in import and export volumes given current digitalization and globalization trends. The new gateway facility at Munich Airport represents the next important step in our infrastructure plan and enables us to prioritize our customers by offering them an improved service.”
State Minister Dr Florian Herrmann, Member of the Bavarian Parliament and Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery, said, “This is the groundbreaking ceremony for a win-win project: for DHL Express, Munich Airport, for Bavaria and for the people who want to reliably send and receive urgent shipments worldwide. With the new express center, DHL is setting standards in logistics and sustainability. Munich Airport is an engine for the region and for Bavaria as a whole.”
Jost Lammers, CEO of Flughafen München, added, “The groundbreaking ceremony sends an extremely important signal for the future development of Munich Airport. We see enormous potential in terms of air freight and express services. The strong commitment DHL Express is making represents a sure sign of its confidence in the location. Bavarian businesses will benefit greatly from the gateway, with its highly efficient logistics offerings and wide range of airfreight destinations.”