DHL Express France has opened a new depot in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the country’s most northern region, as part of the company’s ongoing €30 million investment in the modernisation of 17 out of its 40 operational sites in France.
Located in Arques, near Saint-Omer, the new facility covers 1,050 sqm which is more than five times as large as the previous 200 sqm facility in the town of Calais. The site employs six workers, with 12 delivery routes being operated from here on a daily basis.
With this expansion move, DHL Express is responding to its strong activity increase in the Calais region: between 2009 and 2013, the parcel volumes handled by the depot in Calais increased by 13% on average each year. In 2014, the company’s overall volume increase in France amounted to 10%, compared to 2013.
The Arques depot features advanced technology like all the other DHL France depots that are being either expanded or replaced with larger ones, to optimise parcel handling. The site benefits from a completely automated parcel sorting system which can handle up to 1,800 parcels per hour compared to only 700 parcels at the previous site.
The depot is also equipped with wifi scanning technology to identify parcels in real time offering instant tracking of shipments delivered to customers. It also benefits from direct loading/unloading of trucks next to the sorting system to optimise the handling process and time of parcels.
This loading equipment consists of several removable modules which allow staff to load the vehicles directly without having to bring them back to the warehouse. Each module has a door on each side. The driver thus picks up the parcels at the end of the sorting chain and then returns to the vehicle on the way back. This results in time savings for the drivers who can leave earlier for deliveries while offering later pick-up times for customers in the departments of Nord and Pas-de Calais.
“This move is part of our overall plan for 2014-2015 to support our growth in France. It represents a total of €30 million reflecting our commitment in the country. This extensive modernisation plan conducted through site expansions or relocations affects ten sites in 2015,” DHL Express France CEO Michel Akavi said.
“We are adapting our processes and infrastructure to the changing flows we handle: increasingly heavier and bulky parcels but also a strong increase in deliveries in France to individuals. With these improvements, we are supporting the growing volumes, simplifying parcel handling and improving the service quality by gaining time on the processes while offering better working conditions to our employees,” he added.
