DHL Express injects €104m into Munich gateway

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DHL Express Germany last week held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new 11,000-sqm facility at Munich Airport (MUC) as it looks to expand amidst growing shipment volumes at the Munich gateway.

The express integrator will invest €104 million for the new building which will be seven times larger than the warehouse it currently rents at Munich Airport’s cargo center.

Markus Reckling, Managing Director at DHL Express Germany explained that the bigger facility and its location will translate into faster pick-up and delivery times particularly in the Landsberg-Ingolstadt region.

Artist’s rendering

“Once operational, the airside access allows aircraft parked on the apron to be reached directly from the new building. The gateway also has two so-called PUD fingers (pick-up and delivery), at which up to 65 delivery vehicles can be handled simultaneously.”

DHL Express said the facility, which is expected to double its headcount upon commissioning, will feature energy-saving state-of-the-art LED lighting technology, as well as a photovoltaic system to power the building’s services, servers and computers. It also plans to introduce two charging stations for e-vehicles at the PUD fingers, two charging points for apron vehicles, and charging points at the employee parking lots.

Jost Lammers, CEO of Munich Airport, said the airport sees enormous potential in terms of air freight and express services and the groundbreaking ceremony signifies an “extremely important signal for the future development of Munich Airport.”

The Munich gateway’s regional service area stretches from Nuremberg in the north to Straubing in the northeast, Bad Aibling in the south and NeuUlm in the west. A daily flight also connects Munich to DHL Express’s international hub in Leipzig. Other connections from Munich include East Midlands in the United Kingdom (Monday–Thursday) and Malpensa in Italy every Friday.

The facility will receive Class A certification from the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA), which is globally recognized as the highest airfreight security standard.