WE ARE THE NIGHTLIFE OF COLOGNE

DHL has been based at Cologne Bonn Airport since 1987. In the beginning, air freight was sorted by hand in a tent on the apron. As freight volumes grew, the site became a hub within the DHL network in 1997. With the completion of the Leipzig hub (LEJ HUB), the Cologne branch was temporarily converted into a gateway, which resulted in a massive reduction in staff.

In 2013, however, the decision was made within the network to restructure Cologne and other locations in Europe back into a hub. The reasons for this were the local conditions at the airport, which are ideal for the network. Very good weather conditions and the existing night flight permit have made the CGN HUB a very efficient "alternative airport" for Leipzig. Ideal road connections to the Benelux countries complete the advantages and importance of the location.

Over the years, the Cologne site has steadily expanded and reached its temporary peak with the opening of the new freight hall in 2019. The location's most important unique selling point is its proximity to the DHL Group headquarters in Bonn. For this reason, the hub is also known as "Headquarter Airport".

DHL Airways operates the CGN HUB at three locations around the airport. The cargo hall and associated operations offices are located in the aviation security area to the south of the passenger terminals. Anyone wishing to enter or approach the hall must first pass through the security checkpoints. All vehicles and people arriving by road are checked here before being escorted to the cargo hall by pilot vehicles. 

Hangar 2 is also located in the security area, where the Network Control Group rooms and the pilots' break rooms are located.

The offices of the general administration, management and customs department of the CGN HUB have been located outside the security area in Waldstrasse since 2023. The limited space in the aviation security area and the difficult accessibility due to security checks have led to the spatial expansion of the location.

CGN HUB is primarily connected by airside with destinations across Europe. The most important connection is Leipzig, with three flights per night. This results in nearly 24 flight movements each night. On the road side, CGN HUB is linked to several gateways and service centers in western Germany, including Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Koblenz. The catchment area extends north to Bremen and east to Nuremberg. Several destinations in the Benelux countries as well as in France are also served. Altogether, around 110 scheduled truck movements (inbound and outbound) take place every day.

The new warehouse, which required 18 months of planning and approximately two years of construction, sets new standards in many areas. It was completed in 2019 according to the most modern standards, with an investment of €123 million. The new building features a fully automated sorting system with a total length of approximately 2.5 km. Operating at speeds of up to 2.7 meters per second, it can sort up to 20,000 shipments per hour.

On average, around 35,000 shipments are sorted in Cologne each night, and approximately 1,000 per day. The various operations departments are spread across two floors of the building, which has a total area of 12,000 m². Fully automated scanners can screen freight using artificial intelligence alone and make it air-secure. This ensures that shipments do not contain prohibited items, hidden dangerous goods, explosive devices, or even bombs.

Particular attention was paid to sustainability during the construction of the freight hall. The building has one of the largest ice storage systems in Germany underneath. This system enables completely climate-neutral and emission-free heating and cooling of the hub. This eliminates the need for fossil fuels. The ice storage system is powered by a photovoltaic system. This feeds the electricity generated into the airport's network and can thus be offset against the electricity required at night.

The vehicle fleet of the CGN HUB also consists almost entirely of electric vehicles, which can be charged at the airport's own charging stations.

CGN HUB is currently managed on an interim and open-ended basis by Angelo Mule (Operations Director & Interim Managing Director). In his role as Operations Director, he continues to lead the hub’s largest department and is also a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT). Since 2019, Angelo has been responsible for hundreds of employees in logistics and contributes his many years of experience across all areas of operations to the site’s leadership. He has been part of DHL at Cologne-Bonn since the 1990s and knows CGN HUB from almost every perspective.

He is supported in his role by the SMT. This includes Ronny Richter (Customs Director), Sebastian Deipenbrock (Finance Director), Lisa Maas (HR Director), Gül Kandemir (Senior Manager Security), Jörg Balmes (Senior Manager Infrastructure), and Esther Werny (Manager Continuous Improvement & Interim IT Manager). Together, they ensure the strategic and operational advancement of the CGN HUB.