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Spending in 2016 and 2017 to expand hubs, create 900 jobs, equip couriers with mobile scanners. Shipping and logistics provider DHL Express will invest $185 million in its U.S. operations during 2016 and 2017 in an effort to meet continued business growth and growing e-commerce volume in the country with additional infrastructure, technology, and people, the company said Wednesday. The initiative will create some 900 new jobs in 2016, and the company has already rolled out new "smart" scanners that equip DHL couriers with voice and GPS capabilities as well as stop-by-stop sequencing and turn-by-turn navigation. DHL will also expand its plans for growth in other countries in the region, with new investments in its operations in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. One sign of that growth is DHL’s forecast for a 12-percent volume increase year over year during the 2016 holiday season, triggered in part by a strong U.S. dollar that encourages consumers to shop abroad for holiday gifts and boost demand for import volume. The projection is similar to rival UPS Inc.’s prediction of a 14-percent increase in seasonal global delivery volume over last year’s peak. However, DHL’s growth prediction extends beyond seasonal holidays such as Christmas and Mother’s Day, as the proportion of global e-commerce volume in its total business has risen above 20 percent, up from about 10 percent in 2013, the company said. In response to those trends, DHL plans to leverage the global B2C e-commerce market for cross-border shipments, which is expected to grow in absolute terms from $400 billion today to a total global volume of $1 trillion in 2020. The company has already completed a portion of the $108 million investment project at its Americas Hub , located at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport, which was announced last year. Two weeks […]