DHL contributes $35 million in state-of-the art Chicago facility

DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist within Deutsche Post DHL, has celebrated the groundbreaking of a new $35 million dollar facility in Chicago, Illinois. The facility located at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport includes 53,000 square feet of office space and 423,030 square feet of warehousing to accommodate working space for Global Forwarding’s more than 500 employees. It will be the largest DHL Global Forwarding building in the U.S.

“I am excited by the economic promise that this new cargo center holds for the City of Chicago,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “O’Hare is one of our City’s key economic engines and with this strong commitment by DHL Global Forwarding we will vastly increase O’Hare’s cargo operation capabilities, and will continue to move Chicago forward as a global transportation leader. This is just one of several recent private commercial investments that are generating opportunities for the people of Chicago.” This location will be a bonded Container Freight Station (CFS), designated by carriers to receive cargo to be loaded into containers. It will also be a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ), a secure area under the supervision of U.S. Customs and Border Protection that is considered outside the Customs territory of the U.S. for the purpose of duty payment. “This financial commitment represents our long-term strategy to expand our business in the greater Chicago area and Midwest,” said Rob Betzer, vice president, U.S. Central region for DHL Global Forwarding. “As a part of a network of U.S. air freight gateways, this new facility will offer our customers more cost efficient alternatives to shipping their cargo given our location on the airport’s premises in the third largest city in the U.S., that serves as a crossroads for trade and boasts the largest intermodal-container capacity in the Western Hemisphere.” Expected to be Technology Asset Protection Association (TAPA-A) certified, the location will be internationally recognized as a leader in the fight against cargo theft. DHL Global Forwarding will also establish the facility as a Life Science Cold Chain Certified Competency Center for shipping of pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices that need to be in a temperature controlled environment. The Competency Center will support the company’s THERMONET solution for temperature controlled heavy air freight transportation that provides enhanced monitoring and visibility of life science and healthcare products. It will also include two 10,000 square foot Good Distribution Practices (GDP) compliant cold chambers. The build-to-suit facility will be funded and developed by Aeroterm on a 24 acre parcel of land Aeroterm controls on the airport. “With this exciting project, we are pleased to grow our relationship with DHL which already spans multiple airport locations. Additionally, this investment validates Aeroterm’s larger undertaking at O’Hare which approaches $400 million in investments,” said Erin Gruver, Aeroterm’s Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Development. The building is also slated to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, a third-party verification of green buildings. This certification is in line with the company’s GoGreen climate protection program, aimed at improving its CO₂ efficiency across all of its operations, including subcontracted transportation services, by 30 percent by 2020. The Chicago building is expected to be completed by November 2014, and up until this date, all services will continue to be rendered from DHL Global Forwarding’s current location in Franklin Park.