Cargo developments so far this year at Leipzig airport, situated in the eastern part of Germany, have got off to a booming start.
The airport being the home base of DHL Express and cargo carrier AeroLogic has always been a busy place. This is particularly apparent during the late evening / early morning hours where feeder
services supply the DHL fleet of freighters with cargo for destinations worldwide.
The figures for February show that the airport handled 14 percent more air freight compared to the same month in 2014.
A total of 74,354 tons passed through Leipzig’s warehouses during the second month of this year.
Unrestricted 24/7 cargo ops pays off
Some of this increase can be attributed to the DHL product but Markus Kopp, CEO of the Middle German Airport Holding, makes it clear that also much of the growth originates from more line and
charter services from Leipzig, particularly to the Far East.
However, air freight is air freight and we’d think that the Leipzig managers were not too fussy about where it came from.
DHL started operations at their air cargo hub in Leipzig in 2008 and have in these past six years or so managed to create a worldwide distribution hub there.
The operator is not plagued by any form of curfew and the lion’s share of their flights is operated into and out of LEJ during the nighttime.
Daylight hours are left mainly to passenger traffic. This traffic stagnated by almost one percent during February due to strikes at the airport.
DHL opens new Leipzig warehouse
The first stage of a new 40,000 sqm warehouse for sorting parcels has been opened last week at Leipzig.
This extension was sorely needed by DHL in order to gain more sorting space and efficiency so that the loading and unloading process could be sped up.
Once finished, the 40,000 sqm facility will give DHL fifty percent more handling capacity and enable them to handle up to 150,000 express shipments per hour.
Job machine
The parcels handling giant employs 3,800 staff in Leipzig and this number will be increased by a further 400 once the extension is completed.
A total of €150 million have been invested in the new facility.
DHL also recently announced plans to invest in handling facilities at Brussels airport.
Brussels was once their main hub before moving to Leipzig, but the investment there does by no means affect the future of Leipzig.
On the contrary we note!
John Mc Donagh
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