L4 Logistics | Transport Shipping and Logistics News

   The new 80,200-sq.-ft. facility will serve the Charlotte, N.C. and surrounding areas, including Morrisville, Concord, Kings Mountain and Salisbury, as well as parts of South Carolina. The new facility will enhance the efficiencies of the Southeast operation and improve service delivery times as well as provide a later pickup service offering for customers in the area.  "This new facility underscores our commitment to increase efficiencies, enhance network connectivity and improve the DHL customer experience," said Mike Parra, senior area vice president of operations for DHL, "and will enable us to provide our growing customer base in Charlotte and the surrounding areas with the highest quality of service to meet their shipping and logistics needs."   The new state-of-the-art facility will handle a wide variety of shipments -- including domestic and international parcels as well as palletized and container freight - and initially employ at least 175 personnel when fully operational in April 2006.   Additional key facts about today's announcement include: - Construction of the Charlotte facility began in late September 2005. The facility will be fully operational in April 2006 and will operate six days a week. - The new facility covers approximately 80,200 square feet, and will be 12,200 square feet larger than the four existing Charlotte facilities combined. - The $6 million investment in the facility includes a 10-year lease, airport-related costs, construction of the facility, and capital improvements. - The new facility will have a handling capacity of 15,000 letter and parcel shipments per hour. - The new facility will increase DHL's throughput capacity in the area by 15 percent.  DHL has maintained its leadership in the global delivery market for more than three decades through the continuous expansion of its transportation network, the enhancement of its portfolio of domestic and international shipping services and providing superior customer service to meet the needs of a growing, global customer base. The new Charlotte facility is one of many initiatives DHL has undertaken to improve US network efficiencies, cost containment and connectivity system-wide. Last year, DHL Express announced a $1.2 billion network investment program in the U.S. market which has resulted in a newly expanded primary air and ground hub in Wilmington, Ohio, seven new Regional Sort Centers, and a recently completed West Coast distribution facility.   (Source: DHL)