The Danes spent 71.2 billion DKK (10.6 billion USD) on e-commerce in the first half of 2019, according to the Danish E-commerce Association (FDIH), an 11.9% increase compared to the first half of 2018. As more and more packages are delivered each day to the Danes, this would normally mean more and more diesel vehicles in a big city like Copenhagen. But the new City Hub from DHL Express, which opened November 2019, provides climate-neutral delivery across all of central Copenhagen.  

The world’s first carbon-neutral city

“The new City Hub is part of our goal to significantly reduce our climate footprint. By 2025, we must be 50% more carbon efficient than we were in 2007, and by 2050 we must have zero emissions,” explains Christian Høy-Petersen, Customer Experience Director at DHL Express. Both DHL Express and Copenhagen Airport, which became carbon-neutral in 2019, share the ambitious target to become entirely emissions-free by 2050. Together, they support Copenhagen’s goal to be the world’s first carbon-neutral city by 2025.

The key to the City Hub’s climate-neutral delivery has been a fleet of electric vehicles. Electric bikes will deliver most packages across the city centre, with three Bullit cargo bikes and one Cubicycle. Five electric vans called StreetScooters will run shuttles to and from Copenhagen Airport to bring packages in and out of the city in a more climate-friendly way.

State-of-the-art Northern European Hub

DHL Aviation is also investing more than 1 billion DKK (150 million USD) to upgrade its regional hub at Copenhagen Airport into a state-of-the-art Northern European Hub. The hub will significantly improve the speed and quality of DHL Express’ activities across the region. With new automated systems, DHL will be able to handle nearly 37,000 packages per hour, 24 hours a day, which is 4-5 times more shipments than today. The new hub will keep its Service Centre, where customers can pick up parcels for themselves. DHL, which has been voted Denmark’s best workplace, expects to add 100 new jobs to the economy.

“We are experiencing enormous growth in our cross-border online trade,” states Atli Einarsson, Managing Director of DHL Express in Denmark. “We are also preparing for our customers’ growth, including manufacturing companies within the pharmaceutical and fashion industries. This massive upgrade of our facility will turn it into one of the most modern of our 19 regional hubs worldwide. This demonstrates the importance of our country’s future role in the network.”

Faster, more direct cargo access for Scandinavia

Packages to and from Denmark usually travel via the DHL hubs in Leipzig, Germany, or East Midlands, UK. However, once the new hub at Copenhagen Airport is built, planes will reach their destinations more directly and without additional stops along the way. Fewer stops mean faster delivery, which is critical for many companies’ business and vital for consumers today. Copenhagen Airport expects to see a great deal of benefit for both its B2B and B2C cargo customers, with a wider range of routes to distribute customer’s parcels faster access to rest of the world from Scandinavia.

“Air freight is crucial for maintaining and developing Copenhagen Airport as a key Northern European hub, and we are very grateful that DHL has chosen CPH for their new hub,” says Thomas Woldbye, CEO Copenhagen Airport. “The relationship we have with DHL is one-of-a-kind, based on more than 40 years of close collaboration and open communications. We are delighted to be working together on sustainability initiatives and developing the integrator market,” adds Marianne Juul, Air Cargo Manager.