DHL Global Forwarding has invested RMB 115 million (US$18.4 million) to expand its Shanghai air freight facility, building up a new warehouse and 1,600 sqm cold storage facilities for life sciences and healthcare customers, and housing key air freight and customer service teams on one site.
The new Shanghai air freight logistics centre has been developed on the site of the existing DHL facility on No. 529 Haitian Yi Road within the No. 1 Customs Supervised Bonded Zone and is the only international freight forwarder there that provides temperature controlled storage in its own facility. Housing a four-storey office, the entire facility will accommodate almost 1,000 staff when fully operational. It will be home to all DHL Shanghai staff in air freight operations and product teams as well as the complete customer service team. 500 staff moved in when the office became operational at the start of the year.
Kelvin Leung, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Asia Pacific said: “This development has been in the pipeline since 2010 and we completed construction last year with the aim of creating a super facility in Shanghai that’s a one-stop logistics service shop for all of our air freight customers. Now DHL Global Forwarding can offer an integrated service that’s wholly operated by our specialist teams ‒ all under one roof. DHL is the only logistics company in the Shanghai No. 1 Customs Supervised Bonded Zone that can offer customers cold storage in a multi-temperature controlled space.”
The now-operational expanded warehouse covers a total space of 15,211 sqm and is more than double the original warehouse. It has been developed to service air freight import shipments with warehousing, distribution and value added services for commodities ranging from electronic spare parts, automotive components and machinery to life sciences and healthcare commodities. The investment has allowed DHL Global Forwarding to increase both its operational capacity and expand its services to customers in the cold chain market with the addition of a 1,600 sqm temperature controlled storage area including a cool room, control room and refrigeration container operating at different temperature range from 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, 15 to 25 degrees Celsius and -18 to 0 degrees Celsius.
Steve Huang, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding China said; “The demand for cold chain services is increasing and we now have 20 times more capacity than we did. Not only do we now have the space but we are also offering a world class standard DHL Thermonet service. Our customers in China have peace of mind knowing that they can choose a seamless temperature controlled service that has complete integrity – from temperature controlled trucks, warehouses, transit shuttles to flights – all continually monitored by DHL’s smart sensors.”
Especially for customers in the Life Sciences and Healthcare sector, the loading dock at the cargo receiving area is designed in a special way to meet their strict requirements for temperature control. These customers can also look forward to seamless door-to-door temperature controlled services from cargo pick-up, warehouse storage, delivery to airports and the ability to monitor the temperature status throughout with DHL’s RFID SmartSensor technology, even when the cargo is on the plane. As part of DHL Thermonet network of Certified Life Sciences Stations, the Shanghai facility is audited against globally defined Good Distribution Practices to ensure conformity across the network.
