DHL opens up new St. Petersburg, Fla.-based facility

Global express and delivery services provider DHL said this week it has opened up a new St. Petersburg, Fla.-based facility, which it said is the company’s second Greater Tampa Bay region-area facility.

This facility, which DHL invested $4 million into, will increase shipment capacity and also enable faster shipment processing to facilitate earlier deliveries, as well as later pickup cutoff times for local shipper customers. DHL added that this facility, which is located at 12310 62nd Street North, has 30,400 square-feet of warehousing and office space, as well as around 40 available courier load positions.

DHL said that a major driver for this new location is how B2B and B2C e-commerce shipment volumes are driving what it called unprecedented growth in Florida’s West Coast, including Pinellas County. And the company added that is also addresses this demand by splitting shipment volume with DHL’s Tampa facility, which, in turn, increases service for shipper customers in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, with first deliveries now able to go out for delivery more than 30 minutes earlier.

“By splitting volumes with our existing service center in Tampa, and adding a new facility in St. Petersburg, we can effectively manage the volume increases while also providing better service in the local market,” a DHL spokesman told LM. “We can deliver to earlier to customers across Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, as well as extend our pickup cutoff times in some areas.”

Other notable features of this facility include:

• it handles U.S. domestic as well as time-definite international shipments to and from the 220 countries and territories served by DHL;
• it offers another convenient ServicePoint for customers to drop off and pick-up shipments locally;
• its advanced material handling system can process up to 3,000 pieces per hour (PPH);
• it is also supported by 30 dedicated couriers and operational personnel; and
• it also equipped to soon introduce electric pickup and delivery vehicles, which will support Deutsche Post DHL Group’s sustainability roadmap that targets 60% of its global delivery fleet to be electrically powered by 2030

“The company’s expansion in St. Petersburg was an ideal location, strategically located near an airport which provides us the flexibility we need as we grow our air network,” said Richard Saavedra, VP and General Manager for DHL Express in the Southeast U.S., in a statement. “International shipment growth in this market has been around 18% over the last three years, so this investment ensures we can continue to grow with our customers, while providing the highest level of service.”