DHL announces completion of Central Asia Hub

Hong Kong - DHL has announced the completion of its US$110 million Central Asia Hub (CAH). The facility is the first automated express hub in Asia Pacific and is expected to boost DHL's operational capability in the region significantly.

The 35,000-square-metre facility situated at the Hong Kong International Airport will allow DHL to handle 40 million shipments in 2008.

Jerry Hsu, president of the Greater China Area, DHL Express said, "The CAH is complemented by a well-established Asia Air Network which is served by more than 20 aircraft and over 500 commercial daily flights. The expansion of the CAH brings with it heightened speed, efficiency, accuracy and significantly bolsters DHL's operational capacity in Asia Pacific,"

Equipped with a throughput of 75,000 pieces per hour (pph) of flyers and conveyable shipments, the facility will improve current throughput by 114% and cut the throughput cycle time from 12 minutes to 7 minutes.

Dan McHugh, CEO, DHL Express Asia Pacific said, "The expansion of the CAH is a testament to the continued growth of intra-Asia trade and the Asia-Europe trade lane. Currently, over 60% of express cargo processed by the Central Asia Hub is intra-Asia Pacific shipments, a figure we expect to continue to grow alongside rising intra-regional trade,"

According to DHL, some key automated features of the CAH will include a bank of singulators which arrange parcels into a single queue, six-sided camera scanners which scan all sides of conveyable shipments, and a shoe sorter matrix which directs the shipments to the relevant chutes according to their destination.

A TAPA1 Class A-certified facility, the CAH will features a state-of-the-art security system with approximately 200 CCTV cameras, X-ray equipment and an access control system.

The CAH will also comprise of a Quality Control Center (QCC) which monitors flight uplift and landing time in real time, enabling DHL to notify customers in the event of flight delays or cancellations.

The QCC is connected to the Asia Pacific Quality Control Centre (APQCC) in 41 cities across Asia including Singapore, 60 gateways and over 300 service centres.