DHL Express has officially inaugurated its new depot at Roissy, in the Paris metropolitanregion, in response to strong parcel volume growth at the site, as part of the company’s ongoing
€30 million investment in the modernisation of 17 out of its 40 operational sites in France.With a total area of nearly 4,000 sqm, the new site, which is situated close to Charles deGaulle Airport, is DHL’s fourth largest depot in France and thus one of the most importantrelocation projects within the investment programme.
As part of the modernisation plan, the sites concerned are being either expanded or replacedwith larger ones, with substantial investments in technology upgrades (including new scanners) andworkforce. Thus, 30 new employees will join DHL Express France in the coming months.
The new Roissy depot is more than four times larger than the previous site, which covered anarea of only 900 sqm, and features advanced equipment to optimise parcel handling. The old depotbecame too small to meet the sharp increase in the volumes handled, with 27% growth in exportshipments and 12% in imports in 2014.
The new depot employs 47 staff handling 2,900 – 3,200 export shipments on average every day and2,500 import parcels, with 47 trucks making 47 delivery routes per day. It benefits from a new,completely automated, 170 metre long sorting system with the capacity to handle up to 4,000 parcelsper hour.
Among other features are direct loading/unloading of trucks next to the sorting system tooptimise the handling process and time of parcels, as well as new equipment such as WiFi scans toidentify the parcels in real time thus offering instant tracking of customers’ shipments. Thevarious time savings (around 30 minutes) generated through the technology at the new site enableshuttles to leave earlier for deliveries and to offer customers later pick-up times, DHL Francestressed.
The site is directly linked to the hub at the Roissy airport with two shuttles per day, and alsoto the Brussels hub, thanks to one daily international shuttle.
DHL Express France CEO Michel Akavi said: “This new investment is part of our overall plan tosupport our growth in France. We are adapting our processes and infrastructure to changing flows wehandle: increasingly heavier and bulky parcels but also a strong increase in deliveries in Franceto individuals. We are organising our sites accordingly through direct unloading and loading, withtrucks arriving inside the warehouse to be as close as possible to the automated sorting systems.With these improvements, we are supporting the growing volumes, simplifying parcel handling andimproving the service quality by gaining time on the processes while offering better workingconditions to our employees.”
As part of the €30 million investment, DHL France already spent €13 million on its newheadquarters in Bourget (close to Le Bourget airport), next to Paris, while the remaining €17million are being invested in the modernisation of the 17 sites in France. While the firstrelocations already took place last year, other construction work is planned at around 10 sitesthis year, including Grenoble (relocation), Orléans (expansion) and Strasbourg (laying of thecornerstone) in the first quarter of 2015.
