UPS has moved its operations in northern Netherlands to a new, larger facility in Heerenveen, in response to the growing demand in the region and as part of the company’s $2 billion investment in its European infrastructure over the next four to five years.
The new 4,000 sqm depot, destined for parcel sorting and delivery, has the capacity to sort 2,500 packages per hour and accommodates 55 delivery trucks. 170 people are employed at the facility.
As the new centre for UPS’ activities in the region, the depot will be the base for the company’s logistics and transport services which it provides to customers in Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and the northeast region of Flevoland province.
"This move addresses growing demand we are seeing in this important region of the country and shows our long-term commitment to helping our customers connect to global markets," Henk Kammeraat, country manager UPS Netherlands, said. "The new building was selected with this growth in mind, and there is potential for further expansion of its sorting capacity and the creation of additional jobs in the future."
The expansion is the latest in a series of the UPS recent investments in the Netherlands. In October 2014, it doubled the package sorting capacity of its Tilburg facility to 5,000 packages an hour. In January, the company added 8,500 sqm of warehouse space to its two existing contract logistics facilities in Venlo.
In May, UPS opened a healthcare-dedicated freight forwarding facility at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, which features temperature-controlled zones, 24/7 monitoring and healthcare-specific safety protocols. In June, it announced the construction of a new 28,000 sqm healthcare distribution centre in Roermond, due to be completed in January 2016.
