GLS has officially opened its €13 million depot in the industrial estate of Bornheim, close toCologne and Bonn in north-west Germany, to expand capacity and boost growth in the region.
With a sorting capacity of up to 55,000 parcels daily, the new depot is one of the parceloperator’s biggest sites in Germany, GLS said in a statement. Its construction started in Aprillast year.
On a site of 33,000 sqm, the 6,000 sqm hub is equipped with a four-string conveyor technique,state-of-the art scanning and safety technology as well as 170 loading gates. The hub can beexpanded to 227 gates and used as a regional reloading point any time when needed.
“With the depot, we have systematically expanded the capacity in the western German region andimproved service quality,” explained Klaus Conrad, Managing Director GLS Germany. “If the parcelvolumes continue growing, it won’t be a problem at this site. We have enough space here to expandinto a regional hub.”
Along with expanded capacity and technology, the eco-audit of the location has also improvedconsiderably. “Through a heat pump heating as the primary heating source, we substantially reducethe CO2 emissions,” Conrad said. “There is an appliance to use rainwater and mostly fullyrecyclable steel and sandwich panels were used during construction.” GLS has used the sameecological measures in Bornheim that were previously successfully implemented at its site inVaihingen-Enz, southern Germany.
Eberhard Fritze, GLS Managing Director Europe West, commented: “Qualified staff at all workinglevels as well as the use of advanced IT and technology make shipping processes very efficient andcompetitive. We thus offer our customers high quality at good value for money.”
GLS has already been operating a depot in Bornheim-Sechtem since 1993. When it became too small,an ideal location for a new building was found only 2 km away in the industrial estate BornheimSouth. The large state-of-the-art hub upgrades the GLS site while creating new jobs in the region,the company added.
