Most people have probably never taken the time to consider how the packages they send by an express courier arrive safely at their destination. Like many things these days, the capability and the process are taken for granted: you call a courier; he collects the package, some magic happens and the package is delivered safely the next day.
But the magic is actually quite a complex process involving the latest technology and some very expensive equipment - not least of which could be a $60 million widebody freighter aircraft.
The chances are your package will spend some time in a van and a truck, before heading by air to one of Europe's express package air hubs operated by the likes of DHL, TNT or United Parcel Service (UPS). Dormant during the day, come the midnight hour these nocturnal metropolises burst into life as aircraft arrive; ferrying packages large and small from points within Europe as well as from across the Pond and from Asia.
During the event to mark the official opening of UPS's $135 million expansion of its European air hub at Cologne/Bonn airport (CGN) on 30 January, I spent part of the night at the facility to witness how it all works at first hand. The hub’s new wing has pushed its hourly package-handling capability to 110,000 - that's more than 30 packages a second - and there is provision to grow this to 165,000 per hour. As well as handling 31 aircraft freighters between 23:00 and 05:00 each night, CGN also processes the contents of 150 trucks that feed from the nearby industrial centres along the Rhine river and connect to UPS's ground hub 180km (110 miles) south at Fechenheim, near Frankfurt.
Flight International
But the magic is actually quite a complex process involving the latest technology and some very expensive equipment - not least of which could be a $60 million widebody freighter aircraft.
The chances are your package will spend some time in a van and a truck, before heading by air to one of Europe's express package air hubs operated by the likes of DHL, TNT or United Parcel Service (UPS). Dormant during the day, come the midnight hour these nocturnal metropolises burst into life as aircraft arrive; ferrying packages large and small from points within Europe as well as from across the Pond and from Asia.
During the event to mark the official opening of UPS's $135 million expansion of its European air hub at Cologne/Bonn airport (CGN) on 30 January, I spent part of the night at the facility to witness how it all works at first hand. The hub’s new wing has pushed its hourly package-handling capability to 110,000 - that's more than 30 packages a second - and there is provision to grow this to 165,000 per hour. As well as handling 31 aircraft freighters between 23:00 and 05:00 each night, CGN also processes the contents of 150 trucks that feed from the nearby industrial centres along the Rhine river and connect to UPS's ground hub 180km (110 miles) south at Fechenheim, near Frankfurt.
Flight International
