Blades for wind turbines stored at a logistics depot in Tianjin, China. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg)
Key Takeaways:
- DHL said growing clean energy equipment, including massive wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries, is becoming harder to transport due to size, complexity and safety risks.
- The challenge matters as DHL expects its energy logistics revenue to reach €3 billion by 2030, driven by rising demand for oversized turbines and hazardous batteries.
- DHL is expanding specialized infrastructure, including a European battery hub and custom containers, to handle complex shipments as projects move into remote regions.
Global efforts to transition away from fossil fuels are running into a new challenge: Clean energy equipment is getting more complex, hazardous and too big to transport easily.
The complexity of moving giant wind turbine components or batteries that carry fire risks is a challenge for a new energy business that logistics giant DHL Group expects to see grow revenue to 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) by 2030 from about 600 million euros last year, according to CEO Tobias Meyer.
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“Large wind turbines now have blades of astonishing dimensions,” Meyer told reporters June 11, speaking on a video briefing from Amsterdam. “These large cargoes create high wind loads for vessels, require stacking and specialized rigs to transport, as they are also quite vulnerable.”
Dongfang Electric Corp. last year began production of a 26-megawatt wind turbine with blades measuring 502 feet, while Ming Yang Smart Energy Group has worked on a mammoth, two-headed 50-megawatt model. Manufacturers are developing giant rotors, which capture more energy, to expand sales into markets with low wind speeds — though installing the super-size equipment typically requires specialized trucks and wide roads.
DHL Group ramps up New Energy Logistics as demand for energy resilience surges. https://t.co/VGPF0PT6jc
— DHL Group (@DHLGlobal) June 11, 2026
Rising battery demand, including from the booming stationary storage sector, is propelling exports of lithium-ion batteries. Storage deployments are forecast to jump 17-fold to 3.8 terawatts by 2050 from 223 gigawatts in 2025, BloombergNEF said in its annual New Energy Outlook published last month.
Yet moving the components can be logistically complex: any unit over 35 kilograms (77.2 pounds) is classified as dangerous goods because of the potential fire risks. Compounding that hazard is a fragmented web of international aviation rules, making the air transport of large batteries the industry’s “single largest gap,” Meyer said.
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DHL is establishing a new European battery hub in Holtum, Netherlands, to handle the growing volume of components needed for electric vehicles and energy storage, and rolling out other specialized handling centers from India to Peru. The company is also deploying custom insulated containers for batteries to protect against thermal shock, rain and cross-contamination while shipping.
Specialized infrastructure is increasingly necessary as new green projects are built in far-flung regions, away from established trade routes, said Oscar de Bok, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding, a unit that specializes in air and ocean freight. “Some of this stuff is extremely complicated,” he said.
DHL Supply Chain ranks No. 12 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America and No. 5 on the TT Top 50 Global Freight list.
