DHL 2011 Annual Report Download - page 17

The Shanghai skyline. 13
Asian markets growing rapidly
The new facility stands impressively in front
of a grey January sky as the sound of jet engines
from the nearby runway can be heard. Inside, a team
of technicians are busy commissioning a sophisti-
cated automated sorting system, evidence that here,
in the freight zone on the west side of Shanghai
Pudong Airport, a fi rst-class hub is in the works:
’s new North Asia Hub. “No other express market
is as dynamic as the Asian market,” explains Jerry
Hsu,   Express Asia Pacifi c. “In order to be the
provider of choice for our Asian customers, we have
to improve our standard of service continuously, be-
coming faster and more e cient. The new hub is an
important part of that.”
The numbers speak for themselves. Asian coun-
tries such as China, India and South Korea are the
new growth drivers of the world economy and that is
good news for the logistics sector. Experts predict
that the air freight market in Asia will see the highest
growth rates in the world until , with the intra-
Asian market expected to grow by   annually.
Expanding market leader
 already is the market leader in the express
business in Asia today. The company strategy is to
operate its own hubs, and it maintains hubs in
Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. These, in turn,
are connected with  gateways located strategi-
cally throughout the Asia Pacifi c region. The North
Asia Hub will replace the existing gateway at
Shanghai Pudong Airport and represents an invest-
ment of around    million over the lifetime
of the facility.
 has harnessed years of experience from
its existing hubs to design and construct the facility,
and new solutions have been developed that make
operations easier, safer and more e cient. For ex-
ample, the loading area has been made especially
large and given a wide vehicle lane. In addition,
skids and carts are being employed to lessen the
need for forklifts. This reduces congestion and the
risk of accidents, and increases e ciency. The high
number of loading docks speeds up loading and un-
loading of lorries, which will be quickly shuttling in
and out of the dock area to keep up with the cen-
tre’s lightning-fast incoming and outgoing process-
ing times. With four separate automatic sorters, it
will be a state-of-the-art operation, and its , m
of operational fl oor space make it the largest 
Express hub in Asia and one of the largest anywhere
in the world.
The new hub goes into operation
in summer 
The North Asia Hub consists of two main build-
ings, a sorting centre and a ,
m administrative
building. In the sorting centre, six kilometres of con-
veyor belts and sorters have already been installed
and it will not be long before the fully automated
parcel and document sorters are processing up to
, parcels and just as many documents per hour.
In the meantime, fi nal fi t- out work such as the in-
stallation of an advanced security system with 
cameras has begun.
Once the hub goes into operation, which will
be a step-by-step process to be completed in the
summer of , the round-the-clock quality control
centre will monitor all shipments in the air and
on the ground, and a team of  people will be
in place to ensure all parcels and documents are
processed quickly and e ciently.
“The hub in Shanghai reinforces ’s
multi-hub strategy in Asia Pacific.
Together with our hub in Hong Kong
as well as those in Bangkok and
Singapore, the four hubs will be linked
to over   Express gateways
located strategically throughout Asia
Pacific, providing our customers
with the most extensive network infra-
structure in the region.”
Chris Bresnahan,
 Network Operations & Aviation,  Express Asia Pacifi c
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