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DHL Global Forwarding breaks ground at Frankfurt airfreight centre

DHL Global Forwarding has broken ground on its Frankfurt Airport airfreight centre, which is scheduled to open next year.

The airfreight centre is in Frankfurt Airport’s CargoCity South close to Airport Gate 31 and will primarily handle airfreight for its German and international customers and manage charter flights with its in-house service provider StarBroker.

The 55,000 square-metre property will take around 12 months to complete and is expected to be inaugurated in the middle of the year.

It will supplement existing operations, offering transhipment space and providing room for the new StarBroker European headquarters.

The property is owned by Frankfurt Airport’s owner and operator, Fraport and leased to DHL Global Forwarding.

Tobias Schmidt, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Europe, says, “We're very pleased that we were able to develop a larger, more sustainable site in close cooperation with Fraport. The newly created space will enable us to handle greater transport volumes for our customers even more quickly and efficiently.”

Anke Giesen, Executive Director Retail and Real Estate at Fraport, says, “This building will meet the strictest ecological and economic requirements for modern freight handling facilities. As such, it will put our future tenant DHL Global Forwarding in the best position to take its air freight business to the next level. The realisation of this complex project is also a testament to the extraordinarily broad portfolio and proven expertise of Fraport's real estate development team.”

The new building will provide about 24,500 square metres of hall space and 3,000 square metres of flexible office and social space.

It will also have a freight yard, 25 truck parking spaces and 185 car parking spaces.

When it is completed, the hall will have 54 gates and cross-docks with driving and shunting areas and separate outdoor parking for trucks.