GERMANY\\\ Ode to Cologne


The unassuming airport of Cologne has been UPS’s main European air hub since 1987 – and it is still the ideal base for pan- European distribution, says the global express giant. There may be locations in Europe that, on the face of it, offer lower land or labour costs but Germany, and Cologne in particular, is in the heart of UPS’s European customer base. It is also in the middle of the region that economists call the ‘Blue Banana’ in which the majority of the continent’s population and commerce is concentrated. As a UPS spokesman pointed


out, express carriers that have put their main hubs in other less advantageously placed cities tend to have substantial sub-hubs elsewhere, effectively operating a dual-hub strategy which is arguably less efficient. But by centring its operations on its largest market, the industrial region of Germany, UPS can concentrate all its European hub activity on one single point. UPS has been in Germany itself


since 1976, initially starting out with a base in Frankfurt. In those days, there was no global network; Germany was the only European country served – indeed, the first outside the US and Canada, and selected ahead of the UK for the carrier’s first European venture because of its strong economy. (The UK at the time was in the throes of the Three-day Week and Winter of Discontent, as older readers will remember.) Cologne proved to be fertile ground for UPS’s


fledgling


European operation. At the time, passenger flights were relatively few and the parcels carrier almost had the airport to itself. UPS still occupies the first building it opened in Cologne back in 1987 and all subsequent developments have been adjacent to each other, giving the hub a cohesiveness that is lacking in many other places where operators have had to grab whatever land was available. The latest instalment, Facility North, opened earlier


this year. This


greatly enlarged UPS’s footprint at Cologne, but there is still space for further expansion as and when required. The hub’s capacity is now 190,000 packages an hour – the second highest in the world aſter Louisville, Kentucky. Other advantages are the ready


Issue 7 2014 - Freight Business Journal


Another good year for Leipzig


Freight volume at Leipzig/Halle Airport have risen for the tenth successive year in the first nine months of 2014, said operator


37


Mitteldeutsche Flughafen. Traffic rose by 1.4% to 667,181 tonnes during the first nine months of the year. The airport has been DHL’s main European hub since 2008; other


contributors


to growth include a new Air Bridge Cargo scheduled


service


since the summer and charter flights to Asia and other destinations.


availability of labour. Cologne itself is a substantial city and there are other large places within easy commuting distance. UPS doesn’t have Cologne for


its own exclusive use, but it is by far the dominant operator. The cargo area is huge, incidentally – it even has its own internal public transport network with articulated buses leaving operating every few minutes at busy times. UPS sees the Cologne hub as


an investment for the whole of Europe, not just Germany. Every night, planes ranging from small turboprops to the 747-400Fs and MD11Fs used on the Asian and Transatlantic routes converge on the airport. Cologne is also one of the last


remaining major 24-hour airports in western Europe. The North Rhine Westphalia Government has guaranteed night flights until at least 2030. UPS has developed a new type of landing approach for its aircraſt. Traditionally, aircraſt made an initial descent and then flew at low level, engines roaring, much to the annoyance of the locals, before making a final descent. But using a controlled descent approach means that the plane stays higher for longer, not only cutting noise but saving fuel too.


There are three operation


runways including one of 4km that can carry the largest planes flying. The airport is also relatively free of


fog, snow, ice and other


impediments to safe aviation. Being so centrally located in


Europe also means that Cologne can be a focal point for UPS’s ground network. The carrier naturally prefers to keep freight on the ground rather than use aircraſt where delivery schedules can be met, and more of Europe can be reached with the required time windows from Cologne than, say, Paris or east Germany.


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