DHL Global Forwarding/Freight, the air and ocean freight specialist within Deutsche Post DHL, has opened a new €40m logistics centre near Milan, Italy.

With a total ground territory of more than 83,000 sq m and warehouse space of 26,000 sq m the facility bundles the services of DHL Global Forwarding and Freight into one facility and will serve as the central terminal for both business units in Italy.

Concentrating the competences of the two DHL entities and consolidating DHL's presence in the region, a total of 500 employees will share 10,000 sq m of office space.

The new warehouse has 116 doors for loading and unloading, with ramps, one bridge crane, a dedicated area for air pallets, a semi-automatic multi-level warehouse for garments (on hangers), a temperature-controlled cell for cross-docking Life Sciences products, and a dedicated area for hazardous goods.

"Our new logistics centre is ideally situated in the strategically important region east of Milan, and provides the best infrastructure for air and sea transport in Italy. With dedicated areas for our specialised services, we are reinforcing our strategy to focus on the specific logistics needs of our various key industry sectors. The new automated vertical storage system for hanging clothes is designed to meet the needs of the Fashion industry. For the Food and Life Sciences sector, we have provided a refrigeration system meeting international standards to conserve their highly sensitive products", said Thomas Nieszner, CEO DHL Global Forwarding Europe, Middle East and Africa.