Air cargo giant DHL Express plans $100-million expansion at Hamilton airport
The project will see its current sorting facility quadruple in size.
https://www.thespec.com/news-story/96671...0-million-expansion-at-hamilton-airport/
Global air cargo giant DHL is planning a $100-million expansion at the Hamilton International Airport that will see its current sorting facility quadruple in size.
DHL Express moved to Hamilton in 2008 and now employs 225 people in a 50,000-square-foot facility.
The company announced this morning it will expand its facility to 200,000 square feet and add automatic sorting technology capable of processing 15,000 packages per hour. The expansion should also add more workers, but the expected number of new hires was not immediately clear.
The expansion makes sense given the Hamilton airport's potential to "become the cargo hub of Ontario," said the announcement from Andrew Williams, CEO of the company's Canadian branch.
City officials worked for close to two years to close the deal, said economic development head Glen Norton, who visited a DHL sorting hub in Germany with Mayor Fred Eisenberger during a trade mission last year.
"It's a pretty big deal for Hamilton," Norton said, pointing to construction jobs, new taxes and the city's share of improved revenue at the privately-operated, municipally-owned airport.
"Things will be happening very quickly, because DHL wants to be up-and-running by next year's Christmas rush."
The sorting facility is expected to deal primarily with small packages and letter mail, with international packages being moved quickly between countries. Right now, the existing facility sees two daily planes arrive with packages from an international hub in Cincinnati.
Flamborough-Glanbrook Tory MPP Donna Skelly lauded the news as more recognition of "how crucial Hamilton is as a gateway destination," noting other recent investments by Liburdi Group, Stryker Corporation and KF Aerospace.
The John C. Munro airport is already Canada's largest overnight cargo airport, with Purolator, UPS, Canada Post and Amazon also using the facility for cargo operations. Cargo service jumped from 438,924 kilograms in 2016 to 525,161 kilograms in 2018.
Passenger traffic has been harder to come by, however.
Private operator Tradeport took over management of the airport in 1996 with the stated goal of growing passenger traffic to one million people annually. That has only happened once so far — in 2003 — and annual passenger numbers were as low as 334,000 in 2016.
Since then, however, traveller traffic has jumped over 725,000 as of 2018.
The ongoing growth of cargo and logistics businesses at the airport is expected to finally kick-start the city's stalled plans for an airport employment growth district.
For example, developer Panattoni broke ground earlier this month on a $30-million warehouse in the area — without a tenant — on the strength of expected growth at the international airport.
Tradeport is also embarking on $38.8 million in infrastructure improvements — including upgrades to its main runway, taxiways and airfield lighting — to handle expected growth.
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