DHL continues to expand its footprint in Northern Kentucky as the logistics giant announced the opening of a new 307,000-square-foot e-commerce distribution facility in Hebron, 10 minutes from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
DHL invested approximately $74 million into the distribution center at 2300 Airport N. Drive in Hebron. The company consolidated the operations of three of their other CVG area properties into this new facility. DHL estimates the facility will employ approximately 400 full- and part-time employees.
“DHL eCommerce has been operating in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area for 20 years, and it’s considered one of our US hubs for domestic and international shipments,” DHL eCommerce, Americas, CEO Lee Spratt said in a news release. “This investment is our commitment to our customers to have the best footprint in strategic markets to get their goods in the hands of consumers as quickly as possible through automation while operating sustainably.”
This distribution center includes four meeting rooms, one training room, 13 offices, and 30 cubicle spaces. DHL installed a Honeywell IntelliSort cross-belt loop sorter that is capable of processing up to 50,000 packages every hour. Additionally, the facility features an NPI Gen3 Xstream Dual Lane Sliding Shoe Sorter that can process up to 24,000 domestic and international packages per hour.
Going forward, the facility represents DHL’s largest e-commerce sorting and cross-dock hub in their US network. It can unload up to 20 trucks per hour and sort and reload outbound trucks for final mile delivery, according to a DHL news release.
Green energy investment was another consideration for DHL during the design phase. The facility is partially powered by solar energy, featuring 684 solar panels that can generate around 25% of the building’s total energy. The facility also includes three EV charging stations, a rainwater retention system, and a Building Management System to control internal heating and cooling systems.
The announcement comes over a month after committing nearly $192 million to upgrade their North American superhub at CVG.