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DHL opens doors of $100M Hamilton Gateway Facility

DHL Express on September 28 officially opened the doors to its new facility in Hamilton, Ontario, located at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport. The company invested $100 million to build the new facility, four times the size of the original building also located at Hamilton International Airport, in order to meet significant increase in shipping volumes.

“The Hamilton Gateway facility is a significant milestone for DHL and will modernize our operations in the Canadian market,” said Darryl Wettlaufer, VP of Operations for DHL Express Canada. “The new technology and services we’ve implemented, as well as the increased capacity for handling at the Hamilton Airport, will allow us to meet the double-digit sales growth we’ve seen in shipping.”

The Hamilton Gateway facility is four times the size of the previous one at 238,000 square feet, and features a fully-automated sort system with a capacity of processing 28,000 packages per hour. The airport also has 24-hour landing capability with dedicated Canada Border Services Agency staff on site, which DHL states to have influenced its decision to expand in Hamilton.

“We’re thrilled DHL is opening the doors to its new facility at the Hamilton International Airport,” said Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger. “The facility represents a significant investment by DHL Express in the City of Hamilton and demonstrates the importance of the international airport to create high-value jobs and economic prosperity for our city.”

DHL Express’ Hamilton facility previously employed 225 during peak season, with the expansion bringing about 150 more jobs to the area, some of those in the package sorting hub and others as part of the company’s delivery team.

The expansion in Hamilton comes from what DHL describes as a drastic increase in shipping demand across the country over the past years. Since 2019, international trade has generated continuous growth in shipments per day for DHL Express in Canada, averaging at around 40 per cent growth. The pandemic has also generated a double-digit growth for the company, explaining, that since early 2020, it has experienced holiday season-like shipping volumes throughout the entire Americas region – almost 50 per cent in 2020 versus 2019. Canada is the third largest market in terms of growth for DHL Express in the region. Every month, 60 per cent of the total Canadian shipments are cleared at Hamilton International Airport.

“We are extremely excited and proud to officially celebrate the grand opening of DHL’s largest gateway facility in Canada (by volume) right here at Hamilton International Airport,” said Cole Horncastle, Executive Managing Director of John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport. “In addition to creating hundreds of front-line jobs in our region, this monumental investment into Hamilton ensures that DHL Express can continue operating on an upwards trajectory with the ability to meet the current and future demands of the rapidly growing logistics industry. We look forward to continuing our long-standing and successful partnership with DHL for many years to come at Canada’s largest overnight express cargo airport.”

DHL Express Hamilton International Gateway currently has two daily flights connecting Canada to the International network via Cincinnati. The Hamilton Gateway is the largest gateway for DHL Express in Canada by volume. Other DHL Express gateways in Canada are located in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Montreal, and Mirabel.