DHL Express has expanded its Central Asia Hub (CAH) facility at Hong Kong International Airport as it looks to meet future growth expectations.
The express firm said that it had decided to expand its facility at HKIA in line with the airport's addition of a third runway system, due for launch next year.
DHL has expanded the facility by 50% to 49,500 sq m and added an automated material handling system.
This has increased the hub's peak handling capacity by almost 70% to 125,000 shipments per hour.
The annual total tonnage is expected to increase by 50% to 1.1m tons when operating at full capacity.
This is six times the shipment volume of when the Hub was first established in 2004.
DHL said that the hub is also the first facility in Hong Kong's express cargo industry to deploy computerised tomography (CT) X-ray scan technology, which can double the inspection speed.
In total, DHL has now spent more than €562m on the facility since it was established in 2004.
The facility handles over 200 dedicated flights per week.
DHL Express chief executive John Pearson said: "CAH is important to our customers in Asia and globally, as it handles close to 20% of DHL Express global shipment volume.
"While global trade is normalising following a pandemic boom, our investments today will improve our global and regional network, putting us in an excellent place when global trade recovers."
DHL Express chief executive for Asia Pacific Ken Lee added: "Asia is home to some of the fastest growing markets in the world. Since it was established in 2004, we have seen a continued increase in air cargo demand driven by trade between Asia and other regions, and cross-border e-commerce.
"Even as global trade normalises after the pandemic, we have seen over 30% growth in throughput between Asia and other continents in the first three quarters of 2023 when compared with the same period in 2019, far exceeding the pre-Covid level."
https://www.aircargonews.net/sectors/express/dhl-structurally-improved-performance-in-a-weak-economic-environment/
https://www.aircargonews.net/monthly-exclusive/top-20-cargo-airports-hong-kong-leads-the-way-in-a-tough-2022/
