Automated facility can sort and ship 20,000 packages every hour

Global shipping titan DHL has made its biggest Midde East investment in Israel — an $80 million automated processing center.

The facility can sort and ship 20,000 packages every hour, representing a five-fold increase over what it could process before.

Last year saw $140 billion in Israeli exports, representing more than a third of the GDP, and processing that growth has been a challenge.

"It's growing rapidly... In order to cope with this growing economy, we need to expand infrastructure and logistics is very important," Yair Bitton, CEO of DHL Express Israel, told i24NEWS.

Just how much has everything grown?

DHL says it is dealing with twice as much freight in Israel compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

People are ordering more, partly because e-commerce has replaced brick-and-mortar stores, but other sectors of the economy have transformed as airports now deal more in cargo than in people, with round after round of border closures related to pandemic restrictions.