DHL Express expands NYC e-commerce capacity to handle demand

To keep up with the rapid demand for e-commerce services in the greater New York City area, DHL Express has opened two new facilities in the region – one in Long Island City (LIC), in the borough of Queens, and the other in the Times Square section of Midtown Manhattan.

DHL invested more than US$10 million in the LIC, a 47,000-square-foot facility that can process more than 3,000 packages an hour, giving customers in Queens earlier deliveries and later pickup cutoff times. The facility employs more than 50 people, and will soon introduce new, fully electric and hybrid-electric vehicles and forklifts with charging stations, according to DHL.

The Manhattan-based “foot courier facility,” known as TSS, offers “green” courier service, provided by couriers on foot rather than in vehicles. The new facility provides local pickups and deliveries for businesses in the densely populated part of the city, staffed by 22 couriers that can handle small packages and documents for customers in Midtown. DHL also has a second such foot-courier service already operating in Lower Manhattan.

“Keeping pace with the speed of global trade growth in New York City – and making meaningful investments to support it – is essential in helping importers and exporters expand beyond their borders,” said Greg Hewitt, CEO of DHL Express U.S. “We saw two locations where we could really address a need for customers, and we’ve invested more than $13 million in making these facilities state of the art.”

Both facilities support parent-company Deutsche Post-DHL’s new initiative to reduce all logistics-related emissions to “net zero” by 2050. This includes an interim goal to operate 70 percent of first- and last-mile services with “clean” delivery solutions, including service by bicycle, electric vehicles or on foot.

The two operations have also earned certification from the Transport and Asset Protection Association (TAPA), an international organization that was created to eliminate cargo crime, DHL said.