THE BIG INTERVIEW
Mail became the site’s first major courier, but it was the arrival of DHL in 1984 that was a real gamechanger. Even though only one or two aircraft took off each
T
night, it set in motion a growth journey that resulted in the delivery giant’s UK hub, based in the East Midlands, becoming one of the largest in Europe with almost 30 cargo flights now transporting goods across the continent and beyond every night. “If you look at the UK geography, there’s no better
location than the East Midlands,” says Peter Bardens, who oversees the cargo hubs at East Midlands, Heathrow and Luton airports for DHL Express, the arm of the business overseeing the courier vans and flights that most people will be familiar with. “It’s very central in the country and supported by
the motorway infrastructure, with the arterial link to the north and south via the M1, as well as the A50 and M42. By road, you can touch pretty much all of England within four hours, so we have direct linehaul vehicles coming into the East Midlands from all corners of the country. “The only parts of the UK we don’t use the road to
feed into the region is Scotland, where we fly from Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and Northern Ireland. “That why it’s always been our main hub for the
UK since the 1980s and the rapid growth we’ve seen since then has allowed us to grow our facilities.”
THE SAN FRANCISCO-founded, Bonn-headquartered company is one of two major couriers to have its UK hub in the region, alongside UPS, with TNT another big player on the site. Its postyellow planes, adorned by DHL’s now
iconic red lettering featuring “speed stripes”, jet off from the East Midlands to various European sites including Brussels, Spain, Italy and the Nordics, as well as the North American hub of Cincinnati and its New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago spokes. Flights to the group’s global hub in Leipzig also serve markets such as Asia-Pacific. Although the freight operation’s expansion has
been a steady one in tandem with e-commerce growth, there’s no doubt the pandemic has been an accelerant, increasing the volume of flights from about 23 to around the 28 or 29 mark as lockdown forced even more consumers and businesses online. The result was EMA, the UK’s largest pure cargo
airport, hit new records – experiencing its busiest ever period in the run-up to Christmas. Some 41,613 tonnes of goods were processed across the airport’s five cargo terminals in November 2020, a 26.4% increase on the previous year. DHL has been a major contributor to this growth,
having diverted much of the volume that would have been destined for bellyhold on passenger flights at Heathrow to the pure cargo operation in Castle Donington. Peter, who points out the company invested heavily in making its sites Covid-safe for staff at the outset, says: “Bellyhold is historically a big part of our network because it helps us to manage capacity and gives us enhanced transit to more niche markets, but there’s been a massive reduction in passenger aircraft flying around the globe. “With that evaporating, it meant we had to find a
solution for all our shipments that were due to go all over the world. “This has resulted in more volume going through our
main hubs like the East Midlands, Leipzig, Cincinnati and Brussels. We’ve had to increase our cargo capacity to sustain the growth we’ve seen from Covid while managing the downward bellyhold capacity.”
he year of 1973 was a big one for East Midlands Airport (EMA). Then only eight years old, the opening of a second terminal allowed it to expand its nascent freight operations. Six years later, Royal
PETER’S CAREER AND OPPORTUNITIES TO MOVE ROLES
Entering the DHL workforce at junior levels can be the start of a journey to the summit of the multinational firm, believes Peter. He recalls how a
colleague doing the same job he was on his first day at the company 27 years ago went on to become an HR leader of its Americas business, a trajectory that isn’t uncommon. “There’s numerous examples we can point to
of people developing their careers from the bottom to the top of the company,” he says. “John Pearson, the CEO of DHL Worldwide
Express, started in an entry-level role as a sales rep in the Middle East, while there’s senior leaders in HR, technology, sales and marketing who have had similar journeys. “We have a tight network of people and
we’re an organisation that is built on that culture of inward growth, development and upwards mobility.” Peter joined the company after finishing
college. He had been due to go to university but a six-month placement at DHL as part of his college course turned into a permanent stay. Starting life in customs clearance for imports
and exports, he progressed to supervisory positions and then network planning management roles. As the company expanded aggressively after
the turn of the millennium, it provided new opportunities to reach senior positions and Peter eventually moved to a global commercial role in the former European hub at Brussels, where he oversaw procurement for bellyhold space. Stints in Los Angeles and Cincinnati followed,
running all the export and import gateways in the US, before he returned to the UK in 2014 to run the expanding East Midlands hub as director of operations. Now VP of UK hubs, a role he has occupied
for two years, Peter is responsible for the interface between DHL Express’ ground operations and its wider network. He says: “The motivation for coming back
from the US was because I could see the growth and the transition to adopting new technology, so I wanted to be part of it.”
There’s also been new trends taking hold during
the pandemic, as Peter adds: “The UK high street is changing forever, but businesses are adapting how they interact with each other and we’re seeing an evolution of B2B e-commerce. Maybe Covid has accelerated a lot of that but these trends already existed.”
A MAJOR EXPANSION at the Cargo West hub completed three years ago enabled DHL Express to build new office space to accommodate its customer service team next to the huge warehouse that leads straight on to the runway. Its total footprint now exceeds more than a million sq ft, employing 3,000 people across the daytime and evening operations. The biggest change, though, has been the technology used. Peter explains: “We’ve gone
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