DHL announced that it is investing over three million Ksh (US$45,000) to upgrade DHL Express Kenya’s Gateway facility located at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Nairobi. The enhancements to the JKIA Gateway will make the facility one of the most modern logistics processing units in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to DHL.

The investment will increase automation and improve efficiency and speed of DHL Express Kenya’s shipment processing for the 1,000 daily shipments passing through the 21,500 square feet facility at JKIA, the company said.

“The facility serves as DHL’s gateway for Kenya and East Africa and is well suited for imports, area trans-shipments and logistics services. We believe this new development will be an additional boost to East Africa as the region continues to progress in economic and infrastructural development,” said managing director, DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, Phil Couchman.

DHL said that as a result of the growing volume of transactions through its facility, the Kenya Revenue Authority has stationed a Customs and Excise office within the DHL facility enabling expedited customs clearance formalities.

The DHL Express Kenya Gateway facility also houses the aviation team with two aircraft that supports DHL’s dedicated flight operation within Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. The gateway facility is also equipped with a 24- hour CCTV monitoring security system to safeguard customer shipments.