DHL opens state-of-the-art temperature-controlled freight centre

DHL has long been known as one of the premier global couriers. That reputation is set to continue as the company broaden its horizons further with the opening of a new freight handling facility.

DHL Global Forwarding – the company’s specialist air and sea freight division – has commenced operations at the $35 million development in Chicago.

With a combination of work and warehouse space covering a total of 491,000 square-feet, the building is one of the largest in DHL’s vast global network. As such, it is set to be a hub for shipments the world over and not just the US.

Worldwide hub

“This inauguration represents an important moment in DHL’s history because it is the culmination of a meticulously planned facility that will further solidify our market leadership position in the logistics industry, and will offer all the necessary features and services to help our customers grow,” said CEO for DHL Global Forwarding U.S Christoph Remund in a press release.

The new building will have a strong focus on handling sensitive cargo which needs to be constantly monitored. It features two temperature-controlled chambers that measure close to 10,000 square-feet combined.

Temperature tolerances will vary from a little above freezing to 25 degrees Celsius. There is also an ambient loading area which means that those within the pharmaceutical sector will be able to ship biotech and medical devices more easily, with the peace of mind that cargo will not be compromised by uncontrolled environments.

Temperature-controlled freight

The features on the ground will be twinned with DHL THERMONET – the company’s system which controls the temperature of any air freight that it ships.

DHL THERMONET is compliant with a plethora of global standard operating procedures and is more than capable of dealing with any cargo from the life sciences and healthcare sectors in particular.

The system incorporates the live-tracking of temperatures inside each applicable shipping container. These can provide constant feedback while any sensitive cargo is in-transit, anywhere across the globe.

The new facility in Chicago looks as though it will only further boost DHL’s reputation in temperature-controlled shipping, only adding to the fact that the company already spans close to 2,000 point-to-point locations internationally.

Accurate readings for both temperature and humidity can be critical throughout the shipping process of sensitive items and utilising the right data logger or thermometer is a must. The testo 184 H1 is the ideal device to keep track of both of those metrics, and it is perfectly suitable for even the longest of shipments thanks to a 500 day battery life and the ability to record up to 64,000 individual measurement values.