Takeoff into an Emission-Free Future
The focus here is on sustainability: planting trees and housing bee colonies, steps towards paperless offices and much more are part of our GoGreen corporate philosophy. But what does much more mean? The switch to electric vehicles e.g.
At our DHL Hub in Leipzig, there are not only aircraft on the apron, but also a number of vehicles. Those are called GSE (Ground Support Equipment) and are an integral part of our operations. Highloaders are used to load and unload our aircraft, tugs transport the freight between the terminals and planes, and crew buses get our colleagues from one place to the next. In the spirit of our sustainability claim, we try to increasingly rely on e-vehicles. Four high loaders, one belt loader and eleven crew buses are already operating electrically on the apron. The use has also proven itself useful from an operational point of view, because an E-Highloader is able to run for an entire night shift with one charge. Over time, the entire fleet of vehicles at the hub will be replaced with green alternatives to meet our net-zero emissions goal.
But it's not just on the ground that things are turning electric. DHL Express has also addressed the topic of electric aircraft. They will arrive in 2024: 12 electric aircraft from the American manufacturer Eviation called Alice. With a range of 815 kilometers and a payload of 1,200 kilograms, Alice can be flown from A to B in the network on feeder routes by just one pilot. The charging process itself only takes 30 minutes. The next step towards sustainable and emission-free air freight traffic would thus be taken. Through the cooperation with Eviation, DHL Express supports and promotes research as pioneers in the e-cargo business in order to reduce aircraft emissions in the long term. - Luisa Bähring