DHL plans USD100M Hong Kong expansion
DHL International plans to double its express cargo terminal capacity at Chek Lap Kok with a new US$100 million (HK$780 million) building to deal with the relentless stream of high-value manufactured goods from factories in Guangdong. DHL, owned by Deutsche Post World Net, plans to build another terminal close to its existing express cargo terminal which was awarded by Airport Authority’s franchise in 2002. The original plan was to expand to three terminals over an 11- or 12-year period.
“We’re full,” said Kelvin Leung, DHL’s regional vice president. “We had envisioned a three-phase expansion of the hub, but the second two phases will be rolled into one now. ” The existing terminal’s peak handling capacity is about 20,000 shipments per hour, with plans to raise that to 45,000 by 2018 once all three phases are completed. The existing terminal handled about 440 tonnes per day in 2004, with an ultimate capacity of 900 tonnes per day expected by 2014.
The new terminal will be of similar size to the existing 18,200-square-meter terminal, with building costs not expected to exceed US$100 million investment, Leung said.
A ground-breaking ceremony will be held Thursday. Hong Kong’s express and logistics volumes are the fastest-growing segment of the freight industry. The Airport Authority earlier increased its air cargo forecast for the next five years by 13 percent when the heavy flow of high-value manufactured goods from factories in Guangdong indicated that earlier projections were too conservative. “China will become DHL’s biggest and most important market in Asia in the next two to three years. We have seen increased demand for sophisticated logistics service from US and European-based clients with production capacities in China,” Jerry Hsu, DHL’s regional director for Greater China and Korea, said earlier.
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd, another air cargo terminal operator that controls about 80 percent of air freight movement at Chek Lap Kok, said it welcomed DHL’s expansion. “We are not competing with DHL as we do not operate express cargo,” HACTL’s spokeswoman Cindy Cheung said.
FedEx Corp and United Parcel Service _ two of the other top global air express companies _ announced in July that they would establish Asia Pacific transport hubs in Guangzhou and Shanghai.
FedEx is expected to invest US$150 million, while UPS is pouring US$500 million into establishing international air hubs in Asia.
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