DPD is investing €42 million in a new depot near Cologne that will be its most modern depot inGermany.
The new depot at Erftstadt, about 30km south-west of Cologne, will have the highest capacityin the DPD network on opening next September, the company announced. Together with generalcontractors Köster GmbH, DPD celebrated the official start of the construction work at a symbolicgroundbreaking ceremony last week. The Erftstadt facility will replace a smaller site at nearbyFrechen.
The sorting centre will cover 13,000 sqm on the 83,000 sqm site and has 320 delivery gates.Next autumn 300 depot staff and up to 350 drivers will be starting work there. The distributioncentre will be built as a turnkey project by the Gießen division of Köster GmbH in a constructiontime of only 11 months.
The core of the new distribution centre is the cutting-edge conveyor system with two 400 mlong sorting conveyors. From the autumn of next year around 18,000 parcels an hour will be carriedalong the conveyor belts at a speed of 2.5 metres per second. Parcels will be weighed, scanned andmeasured fully automatically, and then channelled to the individual loading bay. Operations for theloading staff and drivers will be considerably facilitated by 120 electric scissor lift tables.
“The new depot in Erftstadt is the biggest and most important investment made by DPD in thelast three years,” said DPD Regional Director Armin Margardt. “In terms of capacity and technicalsophistication it will beat all our other 75 depots. And the new centre will also play a decisiverole in DPD’s European network.”
At the same time the new DPD depot is a demonstration of the company’s commitment to theenvironment and climate protection. For the most part recyclable natural building materials such aswood will be used for construction, while a photovoltaic installation will supply energy free fromany emissions. The office building will be heated and cooled geothermally, backed by anintelligent, event-based lighting system. Large windows will enable the maximum amount of daylightto enter the hall, which means that electric light will only be used where it is actually required.And finally noise pollution will also be greatly reduced by means of leading-edge, low-noiseconveyor equipment and a sound-absorbing building structure. The noise level in the hall will max.70 dB, which will be highly beneficial for the workforce.
Dr. Franz-Georg Rips, the mayor of Erftstadt, welcomed the new depot, saying: “The DPDproject will have a positive impact for our business park and for the city as an attractivelocation for companies. In addition DPD will be creating long-term jobs here.”
