Hermes has officially opened its biggest regional hub in Friedewald, Hessen, in central Germany,creating more than 200 jobs in the state since the beginning of the year.
Construction of the €45 million hub, through which it will tranship a major part of itsdomestic parcels abroad along with bulky goods and returns from mail order companies, was startedin February last year. The location is conveniently situated in Central Germany, close to thestrategic North-South/East-West junction of the A4, A5 and A7 motorways, from where all Hermesbranches in Germany can be easily accessed via lorries thus saving transportation costs and fuelconsumption while also reducing CO2 emissions.
Thanks to the latest sorting technology, the 103,000 sqm facility has the capacity to handleup to 70 million shipments annually. 146 gates can be used for loading and unloading. In addition,600 parking slots for swap trailers are available with up to 350 lorries operating on the site.
The sorting centre has been already operating for about four months in a two-shift systemwith 216 Hermes employees and also temporary workers, whenever required. Currently, 200,000 dailyshipments are collected, sorted and loaded on the lorries at the new facility. This figure isexpected to increase to 240,000 shipments shortly and to 400,000 units in the coming months, Hermessaid in a statement.
The premier of Hessen, Roland Koch, said at the inauguration ceremony: “The logisticsindustry is one of the most important industries in Germany and still a job motor as we can see atthe current example in Hessen. In this difficult economic situation, in particular, the new Hermeshub with 200 new employees, is sending a positive and encouraging signal.”
Hanjo Schneider, Board member of Otto Group and CEO Hermes Europe, commented: “Shipmentvolumes are especially boosted by the continuously increasing e-commerce business as well as thecross-border online trade.”
Harmtut Ilek, Hermes Logistik director, who is also responsible for the hub in Friedewald,highlighted in his speech during the inauguration ceremony the technological innovations of the newbuilding, among others. From an ecological point of view, the new Hermes hub also stands out withclimate neutral heat production. The state-of-the-art woodchip heating system covers the totaldemand for heat and saves 83% of CO2 emissions compared to the conventional heating oil facility.
