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Deutsche Post World NetCorporate Communications / Public RelationsHeadquarters
53113 BonnGermany
Last revised: 11/2008
DHL HUB LEIPZIG/HALLE:THE LOGISTICS HUB THAT MOVESTHE WORLD
DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle
32 DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Contents DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Introduction
DHL HUB LEIPZIG/HALLE:
THE LOGISTICS HUB THAT MOVES THE WORLD
3 From the heart of Europe to the world
A location with a future guarantees success in competition
High-tech logistics facilitate growth
4 One location with many strengths
Platform for stronger growth
High-performance logistics attract business
“Hub and spokes” – Integration into the DHL network
Networked operations and combined transport
The hub as a creator of jobs
8 The making of a logistics hub
Three years from site selection to operational launch
Four-phase transition
The DHL flights and fleet
12 The hub in action
An overview of the hub’s nightlife
High-performance sorting facility
18 Sustainability
Economy and ecology go hand in hand
Fast and environmentally friendly: No contradiction
Modern technology protects the environment
Not a single flight too many
Less aircraft noise and lower CO2 emissions
Social responsibility and being a good neighbor
22 Springboard to success
Attracting other businesses with the hub
More than just a business location
FROM THE HEART OF EUROPE TO THE WORLD
A location with a future guarantees success in
competition
Situated in the heart of Europe and boasting excellent
transport connections, the new hub is the perfect logis-
tics springboard for internationally operating companies.
It offers a myriad of direct connections to the growth
markets in Eastern Europe and Asia. The international
express business has been growing for years now and
will likely continue to expand in the future as well,
giving the Leipzig/Halle site the potential to become yet
another success story for the express and logistics specia-
lists. In light of this development, DHL needed additional
starting and landing capacity in Central Europe. This
capacity was not available at the company’s existing
European hub in Brussels, however. Leipzig/Halle, on the
other hand, met DHL’s key requirements: establishment
of additional flight capacity and virtually no restrictions
on nighttime flights.
DHL uses Leipzig/Halle as a base from which to serve the world market,
and in particular business customers, with a product in ever-greater demand:
rapid transport of goods and documents.
High-tech logistics facilitate growth
1
2
3
WarehouseDimensions: 413 meters long,
97 meters wide, 16 meters high
Work surface: 48,000 square meters – equivalent to five soccer fields
Main function: Sorting DHL parcels and documents for further shipment to destinations worldwide
1 HangarDimensions: 232 meters long,
98 meters wide, 30 meters high
Total surface area: Approximately 23,000 squaremeters – with enough room fortwo Airbus A380 jumbo jets
Main function: Servicing DHL planes
2
The Leipzig/Halle hub is located in the metro-
politan center of Leipzig/Halle, one of the
strongest economic areas in the new German
federal states. The region is characterized by
dynamic growth. More and more businesses are
now settling here, both modern service compa-
nies and representatives of the traditional
electronics, chemical, machine construction,
publishing and printing industries. The largest
urban metropolis in the region is the exhibition
and congress city of Leipzig, which has become
one of Germany’s most important research,
medical and cultural centers. Whether the Leipzig
Book Fair, the Gewandhausorchester, the well-
traveled Thomanerchor or the modern television
tower erected by the public broadcaster Mittel-
deutscher Rundfunk, Leipzig’s economic, cultural
and media flagships are renowned the world
over. They are further augmented by a diverse
array of outstanding universities and educational
institutes. What’s more, the citizens of Leipzig can
look back at recent German history with a sense
of pride. In the fall of 1989, it was they who
initiated the “Monday demonstrations” that
attracted attention worldwide, thereby providing
the decisive impulse for peaceful political
revolution and Germany’s reunification.
DHL invested a total of EUR 300 million in the
construction of the new hub with a world-class
logistics infrastructure.At its heart are the distri-
bution center, also known as the warehouse ,
and the hangar . Completing the hub ensemble
are the apron , the tank station and the
administration building adjacent to the
warehouse.The total surface area for buildings
and planes covers approx. 200 hectares.The
distribution center is home to the largest sorting
facility in Germany (see Chapter 4) including 6.5
kilometers of sorting belts.With a price tag of
EUR 70 million, it was the largest single invest-
ment in the construction of the airfreight hub.
4
3
2
14
5DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Site selection4 DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Site selection
Platform for stronger growth
In choosing Leipzig/Halle, DHL selected a location with
the requisite conditions to successfully handle the ever-
increasing volume of shipments and the heightened
competition in the global express business. Not just
today, but tomorrow as well. The contract concluded in
2005 between DHL, the Leipzig/Halle Airport and
Mitteldeutscher Flughafen AG sets forth the rights and
obligations of the involved parties for the next 30 years,
giving DHL customers and employees maximum long-
term planning security.
The new hub’s central location in the heart of Europe is its
logistical trump card – but geography is just one of many
reasons that tipped the decision in favor of Leipzig/Halle.
ONE LOCATION WITH MANY STRENGTHS
High-performance logistics attract business
In the long term, the DHL aviation hub offers sufficient
capacity to handle the increased volume of shipments
that experts predict for the European air express business.
As a logistics “calling card,” the hub is boosting the region’s
overall economic attractiveness. Companies from growth
sectors such as IT and telecommunications as well as the
automotive, pharmaceutical and machine building
industries all benefit from having a high-performance
airfreight hub near their sites. Thanks to 24-hour
operation with takeoffs and landings 365 days a year,
companies from the region have access to the integrated
service they need for what are often time-critical goods
and documents: late acceptance of outgoing shipments
and worldwide overnight delivery with short transit
times to all of the world’s major centers of business.
“Hub and spokes” – Integration into the
DHL network
DHL serves destinations in more than 220 countries and
territories around the world with its full-coverage
transport network. However, direct connections do not
exist between all of the airports in these countries – that
would require a vast number of flights as well as creating
capacity utilization problems due to the varying volume
of goods for transport on different routes. As a result,
items are pooled at certain central points, re-sorted,
consolidated into sensible loading units and then
transported onward to their final destination. These
central points are comparable to the hub of a bicycle
wheel with many spikes leading to it. Leipzig/Halle is a
main node in this system of hubs and spokes, serving as a
European hub in the international Express network.
Every night, flights from all over the world converge here
with cargo for distribution across Europe – and cargo
from all over Europe is gathered here for transport
throughout the world. Regularly scheduled flights depart
each day from the new airfreight hub to approximately 50
destinations in Europe, Asia and the United States.*
GERMANY
ENGLAND
NORWAY
DENMARK
SWEDEN
IRELAND
FRANCE
SPAIN
PORTUGAL
ITALY
SWITZERLANDAUSTRIA
POLAND
TURKEY
GREECE
HOLLAND
* Including Athens, Bahrain, Balaton, Barcelona, Basle, Bergamo, Bologna, Bratislava, Brussels, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Delhi, EastMidlands, Frankfurt am Main, Geneva, Gdansk, Hamburg, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Katowice, Kiev, Linz, Ljubljana, London,Luxembourg, Lyons, Madrid, Marseille, Moscow, Munich, Nantes, New York, Nuremberg, Ostrava, Paris, Prague, Rome, Sharjah (UAE),Singapore, Sofia, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Victoria and Warsaw.
Networked operations and combined transport
The hub at the Leipzig/Halle airport offers excellent
regional and intercontinental connectivity. From here,
the growth markets in Central and Eastern Europe are
within easy reach by air, road and rail. The ability to
combine these three key modes of transport as a
“trimodal” hub guarantees economic and eco-friendly
connectivity to short and medium-range destinations. In
addition, DHL expects the new freight train station at the
hub to further enhance connectivity with the rails.
Starting in winter 2008/2009, DHL will be using Deutsche
Bahn freight trains to transport items between Leipzig/
Halle and the Frankfurt am Main airport. These trains
will thus link two of the most important airfreight sites in
Germany.
The hub as a creator of jobs
In choosing Leipzig/Halle as the new hub site, DHL has opened up
new career prospects for many people. That is especially important
in a region with an unemployment level still hovering above the
German average. By mid-2008, approximately 48,000 men and
women had applied for the new jobs. Many different kinds of
professions are needed at the hub, ranging from loading and sorting
positions offering even less qualified workers the opportunity for
employment and jobs for maintenance staff and aircraft technicians
to employment for pilots and other university-educated specialists.
All of the jobs are tariff-bound, permanent positions with annual
income above the regional industry average. An estimated 2,000
employees were working at the hub in September 2008. Their
number is expected to rise to approximately 3,500 by 2012. Nearly
90% of the newly employed workers come from the region around
the airport. Two-thirds of them were previously unemployed.
Some 7,000 more jobs will likely be created in the surrounding
area, bringing the total number of direct and indirect new jobs
around the Leipzig/Halle hub to approximately 10,000. In addition,
DHL is training young people in the various logistics and IT
professions at the airfreight hub.
9DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Construction8 DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Construction
THE MAKING OF A LOGISTICS HUB
Chancellor Merkel on a tour of the site, where the hull of
the warehouse already stood gleaming in DHL yellow. The
hub’s operative headquarters were transferred to DHL in
mid-2007, as were the aircraft hangar and the office tract
directly adjacent to the warehouse. While DHL was busy
with it own construction work, the Leipzig airport was
completing the 3,600-meter-long southern runway.
Originally planned for fall 2008, the hub’s operative launch
DHL’s new European hub was officially opened for operations in
late May 2008.Approximately two years were all that was
needed to construct a world-class logistics center just outside
the city of Leipzig.The project’s rapid progress is even more
impressive considering the hub’s minutely detailed and carefully
coordinated logistics choreography.
was moved forward to spring 2008. In late May, Deutsche
Post CEO Frank Appel officially declared the hub open for
business. Among the prominent guests attending the
opening celebration were the German Federal Minister for
Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German
Federal Minister of Transport Wolfgang Tiefensee and
Georg Milbradt, the Minister President of the German
state of Saxony at that time.
Three years from site selection to operational launch
In 2005, Deutsche Post decided to build a new hub in
Germany, in the heart of Europe, because night-flight
operations could not be expanded at the existing DHL hub
in Brussels. The two million square meters of ground
between the Leipzig/Halle airport and the village of
Schkeuditz to the west of Leipzig stood empty until
construction began in February 2006. From then on,
however, things developed at a fast pace. In October 2006,
Michael Reinboth, the project manager responsible for the
construction and operation of the hub, took German
Deutsche Post CEO Frank Appel with
German Federal Minister for Foreign
Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier and
German Federal Minister of Transport
Wolfgang Tiefensee (from left) at the
opening ceremony for the hub in late
May 2008.
The new hub has been in full operation ever since
DHL transferred all flights from its former European
hub in Brussels to Leipzig/Halle.Approximately 60
airplanes take off and land each night – one
machine every five minutes between midnight and
four o’clock in the morning.The type of aircraft
predominantly used in flight operations at the hub
is the Boeing 757-SF. Over the course of the past
several years, DHL has invested EUR 1.3 billion in
34 state-of-the-art B757-SF aircraft, thus assuming
responsibility for greater environmental protection
in the international express business (see page 20).
In addition to the Boeing 757-SF planes, DHL uses
several Airbus A 300B4-200F, McDonnell Douglas
MD11F and Antonov 26 and 12 aircraft.
The DHL flights and fleetFour-phase transition
To ensure sufficient preparation time, the transfer to
Leipzig/Halle took place in four phases (see diagram).
DHL began test operations in the summer of 2007 after
completion of the hub’s core structural and technical
elements. During this phase, all technical equipment was
carefully tested to eliminate faults and work out any
start-up problems right at the outset. At the same time,
the employees practiced “normal operations” with 70,000
test parcels. All tests were successfully completed after
three months, enabling the distribution center to initiate
trial operations in fall 2007. Flight operations were
increased in stages. In late October 2007, DHL shifted
approximately 20 aircraft from the Cologne/Bonn
airport to Leipzig/Halle. These planes were joined by 30
more from Brussels at the end of March 2008. The
volume of shipments handled increased dramatically
with the number of incoming and outgoing flights. While
a mere 500 or so tonnes of express items were trans-
shipped each night in early 2008, by September 2008 that
Jan. 2006
500
1000
1500
2000
Num
ber o
f em
ploy
ees
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17
Official opening of the hub:May 2008
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60
Milestones Start of 3-monthtest phase:July 2007
TransferCologne/Bonn hub:
October 2007
TransferBrussels hub:March 2008
Dec. 2008Jan. 2008Jan. 2007
1620
1160
789
420
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12
Hub buildingcomplete:
October 2006
5
9
Start of construction:February 2006
Rapid development – The hub from the start of construction to the grand opening
✈ Number of aircraft
Development of employee
numbers at the hub
volume had risen to some 1,500 tonnes. This figure is
expected to climb to 2,000 tonnes by 2012. Nearly 60
DHL machines take off and land every night at the hub.
On a whole, the transfer to Leipzig/Halle clearly involved
more than just the expansion of an existing logistics
center and was no everyday task for DHL. Special
challenges included the installation of the sorting facility
as well as the planning and coordination of the indivi-
dual workflow processes. DHL was also faced with having
to train large numbers of new personnel. In three years’
time, 2,000 employees were qualified for their respective
tasks at the hub.
2000
13DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle The hub in action12 DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle The hub in action
THE HUB IN ACTION
At the hub in Leipzig/Halle, each “gear wheel” meshes with the next like
clockwork to guarantee that processes flow smoothly each night.This high-
precision work is based on a combination of state-of-the-art technology,
capable employees and excellent organization.The most important link in
the chain is the warehouse with its sorting facility – the largest of its kind in
Germany.
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Main sorter: parcels pass through
the sorting line on the upper
floor
Separate sorting of documents
in the Flyer Sorter: bags of
documents are scanned and
then emptied
5
4Unloading of the aircraft on the
apron
Containers with items are pulled
into the warehouse
“Offloading”: parcels are fed into
the sorting facility
3
2
1 Documents pass through the Flyer Sorter
with their labels facing upwards
Parcels and documents are stowed in
containers according to destination ...
... and loaded into waiting freight planes for
onward transport to every corner of the globe
8
7
6
An overview of the hub’s nightlifeThe hub operates at full power each night. Up to 1,500 tonnes of parcels and
documents are delivered, re-sorted and transshipped within a few hours’ time.
In these rush-hour conditions, DHL employees must keep track of the aircraft
landing every several minutes, the hundreds of containers being emptied in
the warehouse and of the items passing through the huge sorting facility.
1
1716 DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle The hub in action DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle The hub in action
Documents are sorted separately
Documents (“flyers”) are sorted separately in the
Flyer Sorter (see ). After sorting, the documents
automatically land in red bags marked with the
appropriate destination information. These are
then conveyed to the Bagload Area (see ). The
fully automatic Flyer Sorter sorts documents for
500 destinations worldwide and is capable of
handling some 36,000 items per hour.
Newly sorted and ready to take off again
After passing through the final stretch of conveyor
belt in the sorting facility, the parcels and red
document bags are sent down yellow slides into the
Reload Area (see ). Like pup tents, the containers
for the various destinations are waiting there to be
loaded. A final control scan is performed on the
home stretch to confirm the intended destination
7
4
3
technical features: Light barriers, a cascading
arrangement of conveyor belts and small “parking
maneuvers” prevent the parcels from bumping into
one another. This “gentle” sorting procedure protects
against damages. What is more, DHL had a pull-out
conveyor belt extension manufactured and patented
especially for the hub. To avoid lifting parcels
weighing up to 31 kilograms, employees can pull the
red telescoping conveyor belts into the containers
and load the parcels there.
From the apron to the hub
When an aircraft lands at the Leipzig/Halle airport,
the approximately 150,000 items handled at the hub
each night begin a rapid journey through several
stations. A mobile hoisting platform lifts the contai-
ners filled with items out of the machine and places
them onto small trailers. These trailers are then
driven to the sorting center where employees push
containers weighing up to seven tonnes over raised
steel floors with imbedded rollers to the Offload
Area (see ) on the ground floor. Here items that
can be automatically sorted are separated from those
that cannot be fed into the sorting system, such as
hazardous goods as well as bulky and heavy items.
A forklift carries these to the adjacent Reload Area
where employees load the sorted items for onward
transport.
Like a roller-coaster ride
All of the sortable items (see ) are carried to the
Reload Area on conveyer belts. They are first
scanned in the Offload Area,
automatically separated
into parcels and
documents and then
transported to the upper
floor of the warehouse on
the four main conveyor
belts. The initial scanning
procedure programs the
route which each individual
item will follow through the maze
of conveyors in the distribution
center. The electronically guided
parcels and documents are sent on the
shortest path through the sorting streets to
their destination containers. On average, this
process takes less than seven minutes per item.
The sorting process has a number of impressive
2
1
High-performance sorting facility
Every sortable item that arrives at the Leipzig/Halle hub passes through the warehouse’s fully
automated sorting facility, which minimizes sorting errors and is capable of handling approxi-
mately 100,000 parcels and documents per hour.The heart of the system consists of four sorting
belts running one on top of the other and extending a total length of 6.5 kilometers through the
distribution center.
1
3
4
5
6
7
2
aircraft are rolling containers for packages destined
anywhere within a radius of 300 kilometers. These
will be transported to their destinations by truck or
train.
Interim stops at customs and the parcel clinic
In addition to unloading, sorting and reloading, the
hub has two processes reserved expressly for items
requiring special treatment. One is for items that
must clear customs. The appropriately pre-marked
items are sorted out and checked individually by
customs inspectors on site based on the customs
documents provided. Once Customs (see ) has
approved an item for import and forwarding, it is
5
and read the information necessary for subsequent
shipment tracking into the DHL data processing
system. Much like the offload procedure, the
containers filled with parcels and document bags
are hoisted onto trailers outside of the warehouse
building and driven to the waiting freight planes. To
ensure optimum loading, an in-house hub team
carefully positions each container in the aircraft
based on weight. Behind the Reload Areas for the
returned to the shelf and the lamp below it set to
green. This signals to the workers that the item is
now ready to be scanned in again and returned to
the sorting line. A “Hospital” ( ) area has also
been set up in the hub where damaged parcels or
documents are sent for treatment. After undergoing
repairs, the items are returned to the normal sorting
process.
6
The new DHL airfreight hub is a prime example of how sustainability goalscan be brought into harmony with the demands of economically efficientoperation. By using modern technologies such as solar cells and a cogen-eration unit for combined heat and power, the Leipzig/Halle hub isfocusing on the use of renewable energies as well as enhancing energyefficiency in buildings and systems. In Leipzig/Halle, Deutsche Post WorldNet has thus already met its main voluntary goal of improving the company’s CO2 efficiency by 30 percent by 2020 as set forth in itsGoGreen climate protection program.
1918 DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Sustainability DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Sustainability
hub with the new adjacent freight train station will
play a key role in this concept. This will optimize rail
connections to the Frankfurt am Main airport and
other destinations as well as increase the shifting of
freight traffic from the road to the rails.
Modern technology protects the environment
The airfreight hub is the first Deutsche Post World
Net facility able to meet its needs for electricity,
heating and cooling energy for the most part self-
sufficiently. A state-of-the-art cogeneration unit
with a highly efficient block heat and power plant
has been installed for this purpose and can be
operated in tandem with the public power grid or as
a stand-alone solution, guaranteeing that the hub
has power even when the public power supply
system goes down. The block heat and power plant
runs on natural gas. In addition to power generation,
the system is also used to produce heat and cooling,
e.g. for heating the operating facility in winter and
Economy and ecology go hand in hand
The technical infrastructure at the Leipzig/Halle hub
acts as a bridge between high service quality and
sustainable operations. DHL regards economic
success and socio-ecological responsibility as two
sides of the same coin. Environmentally compatible
operations are an important standard for DHL and
have become essential to ensuring business success.
Fast and environmentally friendly:
No contradiction
From a strategic viewpoint, the hub’s location at the
crossroads of Europe guarantees heightened trans-
port efficiency. The usage of combined transport
also conserves energy resources. When selecting a
mode of transport for rapid moving of goods and
documents, DHL always chooses the carrier that
satisfies customers’ quality demands while at the
same time generating the lowest costs and producing
the least emissions. The coupling of the airfreight
SUSTAINABILITY
DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Sustainability2020
route. The primary goal is making optimum use of
the transport room in the aircraft. Empty flights or
half loads would be extremely inefficient and eco-
logically unsound, as would short-distance flights.
DHL therefore transports items for delivery within a
radius of up to 300 kilometers around Leipzig/Halle
by road. In the mid-term, the goal is to cover dis-
tances of up to 600 kilometers by rail – including but
not limited to the Frankfurt am Main - Leipzig/Halle
connection.
Less aircraft noise and lower CO2 emissions
The aircraft in most frequent use at Leipzig/Halle is
the Boeing 757-SF. This plane already meets EU
noise protection standards that will not go into
effect until several years from now. It is 77 percent
quieter than its predecessor, the Boeing 727, can
transport 6,000 additional kilograms in weight and
uses some 20 percent less fuel per tonne of freight.
As a result, the CO2 emissions per flight are signi-
ficantly lower. At night, the DHL Express freight
aircraft must follow more wide-ranging route than
during the day and fly at lower speeds. The
Leipzig/Halle airport is responsible for passive noise
protection. The concept implemented – with
cooling the storage rooms in summer. Another of
the airfreight hub’s important environmental
protection features is its photovoltaic system.
Approximately 1,000 square meters of the warehouse
roof have been covered with solar cells that generate
electricity from the sun’s energy. This electricity is
fed into the public grid, and DHL receives energy
credits pursuant to the German Renewable Energies
Act. As compared to conventional technologies, the
cogeneration system and solar cells save approximately
3,000 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the
atmosphere each year. But it doesn’t stop there. The
environmentally friendly supply system at the
Leipzig/Halle facility includes two underground
cisterns with the capacity to collect around 3,000
cubic meters of rainwater each year. This water is
then used instead of drinking water to wash the
DHL aircraft.
Not a single flight too many
On an operative level, DHL has initiated effective
measures to keep the stress resulting from daily
flight operations as low as possible for humans and
the environment. For example, the company always
chooses the type of plane best suited for a particular
DHL regards itself as a part of the Leipzig/Halle
region. It therefore seeks to not only benefit from
the location’s strengths, but to actively boost to the
region’s prosperity and appeal.
soundproofed windows, ventilators and other noise-
insulating precautions for nearby residents – goes
far beyond the standards currently typical in Germany.
In addition, the noise-control zone around the hub
is more than twice as large a required by law. The
entire package of measures is far ahead of national
and European regulations for protection against
aircraft noise.
Social responsibility and being a good
neighbor
As a key economic player in the Leipzig/Halle
region, DHL attaches great importance to being a
good neighbor to the people in the catchment area
around the hub. The company has therefore
concluded several long-term agreements to assume
local responsibility in the fields of culture, social
affairs and sports. One important part of DHL’s
social commitment is seeking to provide young
people with incentives to remain in the region. As an
environmentally friendly and socially responsible
company, DHL encourages use of the local public
transport system. DHL hub employees can travel to
and from work with a job ticket for this system.
What’s more, DHL covers all the costs – totaling
over EUR 100,000 per year. Employees are delighted
by the offer, as the ticket is also valid on weekends
and can be used together with family members.A green city: Johannapark in Leipzig (the City High-Rise building and the tower of city hall are visible in the background).
With the official opening of the hub in May 2008, Deutsche Post World Net sent a powerful
message of new beginning – to its corporate subsidiary DHL, which can expect to rise to all
new heights on the global express market as a result, and to its customers, who benefit from
the eastern German logistics facility in a variety of ways. In addition, experts predict that the
large-scale investment in the Leipzig/Halle site will provide strong impulses for the area’s
overall economic development – creating a brighter future for people from the region.
2322 DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Springboard to success DHL Hub Leipzig/Halle Springboard to success
AeroLogic founded by DHL and Lufthansa Cargo in 2007
is therefore planning to launch flight operations from
Leipzig/Halle in 2009. AeroLogic will transport both
express and freight goods between Europe, Asia and
America. It is expected to create an additional 1,000 jobs
at the Leipzig/Halle airport.
More than just a business location
The creation of the European hub has significantly
enhanced the appeal of the Leipzig/Halle region for
manufacturing and service companies. The number of
companies from all industries settling around the new
hub has been rising steadily since 2005. In addition to the
“hub factor,” they are attracted by the proximity to the
Attracting other businesses with the hub
The future has long since begun at the hub in Leipzig/
Halle. Thanks to eastward expansion of the EU, the
Leipzig/Halle region has become the epicenter of the
European business community. In addition to seamless
connections to road, air and rail transport, 24-hour
operations and comprehensive night-flight authorization
create the ideal basis for enabling the trimodal Leipzig/
Halle hub to further strengthen the freight express
business with growth markets in Eastern Europe and
Asia. The hub furthermore has sufficient capacity for
increased volumes of freight in the future. As a result, the
Leipzig/Halle airport is growing steadily in importance as
an international logistics hub. The joint venture
SPRINGBOARD TO SUCCESS
Leipzig Exhibition Centre, the high quality of life in the
region and the large market of some seven million people
who live in the extended catchment area around Leipzig/
Halle. They benefit personally from the creation of the
hub – be it as successful applicants who have found a new
job at the hub or simply because the Leipzig/Halle region
can offer its residents a whole new range of opportunities
thanks to its increased appeal. In keeping with the motto
“at home in the world, committed to the region,” DHL
attaches great importance to making the hub successful
together with and as a good neighbor to the people
around it.
Peter Kiebler
was one of the first to apply to
the hub. Previously, he had
spent a year and a half without
permanent employment.As
head of the mechanical work-
shop, he ensures that the
parcel conveyor bands in the
warehouse stay in constant
motion.
Gerd Richter
is responsible for shift planning at the hub. He
also makes sure that the equipment storehouse
is always stocked with work clothing, telephones,
scanners and other technical devices.
Matthias Forst
and his 30 colleagues are the hub’s
firefighters. The highly motivated team
must locate malfunctions within three
minutes.Working at the world’s only DHL
fire department means guaranteeing safe
operations 24 hours a day.
Michael Mehnert
is well acquainted with the
Customs/Hospital area of the hub.
This is where items for free
circulation within the EU must be
cleared by customs inspectors.
Until clearance, they must remain
on the shelves.
Claudia Langanke
works in the warehouse. She receives the road
freight, packs and unloads containers and
prepares the night shift.
Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften, an academy of science
(above), Neue Messe Leipzig, an exhibition center (below): the
Saxon metropolis and the surrounding area benefit from the close
partnership between business and research.
Philipp Hengst and Klaudia Mossakowski
work as ramp agents at the hub. Part of the their
job is loading and unloading the freight planes.