Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Cuts Ribbon at New $35 Million DHL Facility

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently celebrated the completion of a new $35 million DHL facility in Chicago.

The three-story building has 491,000 square-feet of office and warehouse space, making it the largest free standing DHL Global Forwarding building in its worldwide network.

It is strategically located in the Chicago O’Hare International Airport’s cargo zone and is DHL Global Forwarding’s largest air export gateway.

“This new DHL Global Forwarding building is a testament to Chicago’s burgeoning growth, and can offer local businesses of all sizes a gateway to trade expansion within the U.S. and abroad,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “The City of Chicago is proud to partner with businesses like DHL that want to invest in our community by adding new jobs, promoting commerce and further positioning the city as a leading cargo hub.”

The building took one year to build and will house 500 employees. It is a bonded Container Freight Station (CFS), a location designated by carriers to receive cargo to be loaded into containers.

A portion of the building has been designated a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ), a secure area under the supervision of U.S. Customs and Border Protection considered outside the Customs territory of the U.S. for the purpose of duty-payment.

The facility is Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) validated, TSA Certified Cargo Screening Facilities (TSA CCSF) certified, and is expected to be Transported Asset Protection Association Americas (TAPA-A) certified in Q2 2015, meeting security handling guidelines and practices to make it a leader in the fight against cargo theft.

The building contains two temperature controlled chambers (+15° to +25°C and +2° to +8°C) that together measure close to 10,000 square-feet and a 999 square-foot ambient receiving area, built with variable temperature capabilities to process any pharmaceutical, biotech or medical devices that require a temperature-controlled environment and two dedicated truck docks.

The new facility in Chicago is also established as a Certified Life Sciences Station to support DHL’s THERMONET solution for temperature controlled air freight transportation.

It is one of eight Certified Life Sciences Stations in the U.S. completed thus far, with specific storage capabilities dedicated for life science and healthcare goods.

Category: Featured, General Update