Express and logistics company DHL has announced the completion of its $110 million Central Asia Hub (CAH) expansion aimed at boosting its operational capability in Asia.
The company has pumped in $210 million into the facility, which is the first large-scale automated express hub in Asia Pacific.
Situated at the Hong Kong International Airport, the Central Asia Hub has doubled in size to 35,000 sq m - about the size of 120 tennis courts - and is expected to handle 40 million shipments this year.
With the expansion, the highly sophisticated and automated facility has a throughput of 75,000 pieces per hour (pph) of flyers and conveyable shipments, an increase of 114 per cent compared to the 35,000 pph throughput capacity before the expansion, said a top DHL official.
"With the automation, the throughput cycle time has been further reduced from 12 minutes to just 7 minutes," explained Dan McHugh, CEO, DHL Express Asia Pacific.
"Asia Pacific continues to be a key growth driver - in the first half of 2008, we grew 13 per cent year-on-year. The expansion of the CAH is a testament to the continued growth of intra-Asia trade and the Asia-Europe trade lane," McHugh noted.
"Currently, over 60 per cent 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," he added.
 Originally slated for completion in 2013, the expansion of the CAH well ahead of schedule underscores the growth and potential DHL sees in the region.
Eva Cheng, secretary for Transport and Housing said the further expansion of DHL’s Central Asia Hub is a testament to the continued strategic importance and relevance of the Hong Kong International Airport within the region.
"It is also a vote of confidence by the world’s largest express integrator of Hong Kong’s strength as an aviation and logistics hub," she noted. 
With over 40 per cent market share and $2.2 billion invested in the region, DHL’s investment in the CAH provides the core backbone to further enhance service excellence to extend its market-leading position in Asia Pacific.
"Strategically located within a four-hour flight time to major cities in Asia Pacific, 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," observed Jerry Hsu, president, Greater China Area, DHL Express. 
"The expansion of the CAH brings with it heightened speed, efficiency, accuracy and significantly bolsters DHL’s operational capacity in Asia Pacific,” he added.