GLS France has restructured its linehaul transportation operations and is creating new hubs toimprove its distribution network. The overall investment, also including modernisation of existing
facilities, will exceed EUR 10 million.The parcels company said that since the beginning of 2005 it has been undertaking areengineering of its linehaul operations and processes to increase its efficiency. The new linehaulsystem focuses on reorganising inter-agency liaisons, as well as creating two new hubs andrepositioning others. GLS engineers have also reviewed the capacity of the vehicles used on certainlinks.
Two new regional hubs will be created to improve delivery times. Their geographical locationhas been chosen to give this new network maximum coherence and efficiency, GLS France said in astatement. The Roquemaure hub, close to Avignon, will be established on a 4,500 sqm surface areafor a capacity of 70,000 parcels a day. It will employ 60 people.
The Uzerche hub, near Brive la Gaillarde in southern France, will cover a 3,000 sqm surfacearea and have an automatic sorting system able to handle 7,500 parcels per hour. This new hub willserve both as a regional hub (25,500 parcels a night), for the South West of France, as well as anagency, in charge of distributing parcels to the Corrèze and Dordogne areas. It will employ 60people and will be operational from January 1, 2007.
In addition, some 20 depots and/or sub-depots will be expanded. In future, GLS France willdistribute shipments nationwide via four main distribution centres: Fleury, Beaune, Brive (Uzerche)and Avignon (Roquemaure).
The parcels company said that the aim of this considerable investment is to strengthen andensure the quality of the services provided to customers, while at the same time taking earlyaccount of new speed limits for goods vehicles. From January 1, 2007, vehicles over 3.5 tonnes willbe limited to 90 km/h. The new regional operational structure and linehaul system meant that thelower speed would not impact on service quality or performance, while gearing the company up forlarger volumes.
The transport plan reengineering is also part of a group-wide project to standardiseprocesses at a European level.
