Hermes has officially inaugurated a new sorting centre in Geisingen in south-west Germany tosupport the continuing trend towards e- and m-commerce with rising parcel volumes.
During the past year, Hermes delivered more than 300 million shipments. To keep pace with therising volumes, the company is increasingly investing in new logistics centres. Around €4.5 millionhas been invested in the new site, with €3.5 million in land and terminal construction while €1million was spent on technical equipment.
Frank Fischer, Area Manager at Hermes Germany, commented: “We have chosen this site especiallydue to its strategic location directly on the motorway A81 and the city offers ideal conditions.”& amp; amp; amp; lt; /p>
After five months of construction work, the new depot started operating on 1 November last year,in time for the Christmas business. The official opening has now taken place.
In Geisingen, Hermes sorts up to 15,000 shipments a day and gets them delivered to the doorstepof the end customer. Shipments are also transported from the site to the 210 Hermes parcel shopslocated in the delivery area. Hermes employs 52 staff at the site.
The company has been operating a depot in the region at the site in Tuttlingen but decided tomove to Geisingen to be able to cope with the increased shipping volumes also in future and to keepup with the technology.
The terminal at the new site covers an area of 3,700 sqm exceeding the previous one by 1,600sqm. The new sorting facility processes up to 4,500 items per hour thanks to the double-sortertechnology providing a good basis for future volume growth. With the previously used technology,only 1,500 shipments per hour could be handled.
From the ecological point of view, the site also meets the highest demands: a wood-heatingsystem covers the entire heat demand of the building and reduces CO2 emissions by 83% compared to aconventional heating oil plant. Through these and other measures, Hermes has received from theGerman Association for Sustainable Building the environmental certification in silver.
With a total of 14,000 parcel shops spread all over Germany, Hermes has the largest nationwidenetwork of collection points for private parcel shipping in European comparison.
