PLANTATION, Fla. -- DHL, the world's leading global express delivery and logistics company, will mark the start of construction at the company's new East Coast Distribution Facility in Allentown, Penn. today with a groundbreaking ceremony hosted by Steve White, senior vice president, Hub & Gateways, DHL Americas. Federal, state and local elected officials, as well as community and business leaders from the Allentown area and employees from the facility are scheduled to attend.
The new facility will be the principal DHL distribution center on the East Coast of the United States, the most significant concentration of businesses and consumers in the U.S., and will serve all major metropolitan areas in the region. The East Coast Distribution Facility is just one element of a $1.2 billion network investment program launched by DHL in June 2004. DHL is investing $107 million in the new facility, which is scheduled for completion by the fall of 2006. The new state-of-the art facility will employ approximately 340 people from the local community, and more than 175 construction jobs will be created while the facility is built out over the next year.
"The start of construction at our new East Coast Distribution Facility is part of our ongoing network investment program to develop the most robust and most flexible network across North America," said Steve White, senior vice president, Hub & Gateways, DHL Americas. "The new facility will add additional capacity to our network to enhance service levels and enable DHL to provide the highest quality service to customers across the country."
The new Allentown facility will provide much greater throughput capacity and allow for more rapid and the most accurate sorting of customers' materials through the use of state-of-the-art software technology, and sort-system equipment. The use of this new technology will translate to even greater consistency in the processing of customer material and enhance service performance for the region.
The new Allentown facility will particularly benefit customers in Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., eastern Pennsylvania and New York and parts of West Virginia and Massachusetts.
Key facts about today's announcement:
-- The facility will be fully operational by September of 2006 and operate from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., seven days a week
-- The East Coast Distribution Facility will contribute an estimated $15 million to the local economy in the form of facility payroll and taxes
-- The new facility will have a handling capacity of 40,000 letters per hour/50,000 parcels per hour
-- The completed facility will have a base footprint of 290,000 square feet with an additional 200,000 square feet of mezzanine work space, and 12,000 square feet of office space
-- By the end of 2006, 57 stations will be serviced by the new Allentown facility; and there will be daily truck runs out of the facility to 10 regional hubs located across the U.S.
"Inter-governmental cooperation in Pennsylvania at the local, regional and state level was instrumental in moving this project forward," said White. "Various representatives from across Pennsylvania, including supporters in the Governor's office, local county, city, state and congressional members can all be credited with helping build this state-of-the-art facility."
Copyright ©2005 Business Wire
