Company leaders say DHL Express’s newest regional hub in the Americas, opened in Atlanta this past summer, will serve as a model of innovation for its newly constructed facilities moving forward. At the heart of the project is an eco-centric design that incorporates some of the latest and greatest automated material handling technologies alongside green energy solutions.
“Our goal is to design all our new buildings to be carbon neutral, leveraging the use of state-of-the-art technologies and renewable energy to reduce electricity and heating-fuel consumption,” Cain Moodie, DHL Express’s senior vice president, Americas network operations and aviation, said in a statement to DC Velocity this past fall. “Sustainability is a key aspect of the development of facilities across the region. All new developments must go through [a] detailed assessment to identify the path toward carbon neutrality.”
And the Atlanta facility is leading the way. Located at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, it is one of four parcel shipment hubs in the DHL Express Americas region network. DHL invested $84.5 million in the facility, which spans 100,000 square feet and provides direct connections between 19 Southeastern U.S. cities as well as other DHL hubs around the world.
The project’s goal? Speeding domestic and international shipments while also working to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
“The new DHL Express Atlanta hub represents a milestone in our ongoing pursuit of sustainability and technological advancement,” Mike Parra, CEO of DHL Express Americas, said in a statement announcing the hub’s opening in July. “It also exemplifies our belief in the power of international trade and recognizes the significance of Atlanta and the Southeast U.S. in the global marketplace.”
The facility is combining efficient and renewable energy sources with zero-emissions equipment and high-speed, energy-efficient material handling systems to reach those goals.
A GREEN AND AUTOMATED HUB
The new facility works much like other hubs in DHL’s network. For instance, associates handle all aspects of receiving and processing shipments for local or international delivery on site. Whether those shipments are moving by truck or aircraft, the associates ensure efficient loading and unloading of cargo, including organizing packages, palletizing shipments, and maintaining proper weight distribution for safe transportation, according to Moodie. He says the facility also handles customs clearance, explaining that in-house customs brokers work closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel to ensure a seamless clearance process and adherence to local and international trade regulations.
The difference lies in the facility’s hyper focus on energy efficiency and automation. The Atlanta hub generates up to 50% of the energy consumed on site via 65,000 square feet of rooftop solar panels, which the company says will prevent the release of 380 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year. The rest of the energy consumed on site comes from renewable sources purchased via Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) “guaranteeing zero emissions from electricity consumption,” according to DHL. The hub incorporates a slew of other eco-friendly features, including LED lighting, electric forklifts, dock seals, and rapid-rise doors—all of which help conserve energy throughout the building and reduce its environmental impact.
The Atlanta hub is a technology showplace as well. DHL partnered with several material handling specialists to create a fully automated operation that features 10 automatic bulk trailer unloaders, a network of high-tech sorter and conveyor solutions, and X-ray machines and multiscan tunnels for package scanning. At full capacity, the hub can sort up to 20,000 pieces per hour, or nearly 100,000 pieces per day, according to DHL.
The automated equipment is helping to increase capacity and speed delivery through the network, but it’s also furthering DHL’s sustainability mission. Sensors monitor all equipment to track and maintain efficiency, for example. On top of that, some of the material handling equipment in use is itself sustainable. A case in point: The facility uses two flexible cross-belt sorters—Crossorters from material handling automation company Vanderlande—that are 80% more energy efficient than conventional cross-belt sorters and are made from sustainable materials. On top of that, they’re versatile: The sorters can accommodate products ranging from very small packages all the way through to larger, bulky items, including odd-shaped packages and totes.
Network improvement metrics aren’t available yet, but company leaders say the expected energy savings alone are helping to move the company closer to its environmental sustainability objectives. Parent company DHL Group has a stated goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
