GLS is expanding in Italy with new and enlarged depots to increase capacity in response to rapid revenue and volume growth.
Royal Mail’s European parcels subsidiary increased revenues in Italy by 15% between April and September this year, which followed 16% growth in the year ending March 2015, according to figures from the parent group.
To cope with this rapid growth, GLS said it has already invested €2.5 million in its Italian network this year, has recently opened three new depots and nine others have moved to larger premises.
The three new depots, which opened in October and early November, are located in Cortaccia (near Bolzano, northern Italy), Stradella (near Piacenza) and Oltrepò (near Pavia).
In addition, existing depots in Olbia, Lecce, Vercelli, Sassari, Salerno, Udine, Frosinone and Perugia all moved to larger premises in the last few months while the Siracusa depot will relocate in January 2016.
In the first half of 2015, GLS already acquired a new depot in Ravenna and opened a city centre eco-depot in Milan. Overall, GLS has 10 sorting centres, 142 depots and 3,631 vehicles in Italy.
“Thanks to the expansion of our network we’re relaxed about further rising volumes in the future and can continue to expand the usual GLS quality,” said Klaus Schädle, managing director of GLS Italy.
The company said the slight improvement in the Italian economy and above all the boom in e-commerce will support its growth in Italy. B2C volumes now make up more than 20% of GLS volumes in the country.
The main products for this consumer delivery market are the E-ComService, which enables recipients to fix a delivery date and time, and the InfoService, a proactive notification service.
