Shipments to Latin America from the DHL Express hub in Barajas have grown by 30% so far this year

Xiana Méndez visits the DHL Express air hub in Barajas

The Secretary of State for Commerce has highlighted the importance of logistics in international trade, and the role of foreign trade as an engine of economic recovery and growth.

DHL Express It inaugurated its air hub at the airport in 2019 Adolfo Suárez-Barajaswith the aim of positioning Madrid as a fundamental connection point for commercial activity between EEurope and Latin AmericaJust over three years later, the goal has been achieved, as shown by the 30% growth in shipments to America.

This is confirmed Miguel Borras stating: “After four years we are overcoming the challenge we had set for ourselves, that is, we currently have 24 flights to Latin AmericaWe have daily flights to the most important countries in Latin America. We've grown and are currently exporting around 1.200.000 kilos per month. For our core product, the express product, we're also experiencing growth of around 30% this year to those destinations.”

The air hub facilities of DHL Express have received a visit from Secretary of State for Commerce, pending due to the pandemic. Xiana Méndez highlighted the company's investment“DHL is a company that has been characterized by the incorporation of digitalization and automation in all its processes, and I wanted to see firsthand the significant investment that has been made in recent years. 150 million euros in the last five years, a significant increase in staff, and therefore the creation of skilled jobs in Madrid.”

In fact, the growth in movements at this hub has forced the logistics company to transfer the processing of DDI products (day definite international) to a nearby facility and introduce improvements, such as higher capacity X-ray machines.

Xiana Méndez has referred to DHL's support for the Spanish foreign sector, through the Atlas awards, in which the Secretary of State for Commerce also collaborates.

Jesús Sánchez: He points out: “We are working on the robotization of a mechanical arm that is capable of autonomously placing 1.500 pieces per hour. We are the pioneers, we are testing and if it works by January we will export the model to other European hubs.”

During this visit, Xiana Méndez also had the opportunity to meet with DHL executives and subsequently toured the hub's facilities. The Secretary of State for Trade highlighted the importance of logistics in international tradeand the role of foreign trade as an engine of economic recovery and growth.

“I believe that we have lived in a complex international economic and geopolitical context in recent years: the Brexit“Despite the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the geoeconomic polarization, the data shows a very robust foreign trade. In 2021, it grew by double digits compared to the previous year, and more importantly, by more than 9% compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019. And so far this year, from January to April, there has also been very significant growth,” the Minister points out.

For its part, The managing director of DHL Express in Spain has acknowledged that the current economic context is "complex". and they are being affected by “the uncertainty”, although he has shown optimism for the future.

Miguel BorrasHe explains: “The first part of the year has been relatively good, with growth. We've had more growth in B2B, industry-to-industry trade, than in e-commerce, which gives us some hope that this economic recovery is taking place and will remain stable for the rest of the year.”