UPS today officially opened a new €130 million automated package sorting and delivery facility in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in the latest stage of its ongoing $2 billion expansion programme in Europe.
The 27,000 sqm super-hub is equipped with advanced technology that can sort up to 29,000 packages per hour, with the potential to expand to 40,000 per hour. It is designed to facilitate cross-border trade while enhancing package delivery service for businesses small and large.
“Super-hubs like this one are game-changers and drive our European trans-border connectivity, especially in the tech corridor where Eindhoven sits, the fastest growing part of the country where speed and reliability count,” said Nando Cesarone, President, UPS International.
“This tech-enabled facility provides fast and efficient connections to UPS’s smart global logistics network that moves 3% of the world’s GDP every day. Worldwide, more than 80% of tech start-ups are global from day one – they’re micro-multinationals – because they leverage digital platforms for instant access to world markets.”
Eindhoven is strategically located in a region whose key industries include high tech and healthcare, UPS pointed out. The facility is a transit hub for goods traveling through the region and helps ensure the fast and reliable flow of goods between Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.
“With the growing number of entrepreneurs in this part of the Netherlands looking to seize cross-border opportunities, automated super-hubs like the one here in Eindhoven give them the quick access to Europe – and the world – that they demand,” said Stijn Steenbakkers, Vice Mayor of Eindhoven.
UPS has been offering service in the Netherlands since 1985 and currently has 16 facilities across the country. Near Eindhoven, UPS has 66,000 sqm of dedicated healthcare facilities in Venlo and Roermond, offering customers services such as temperature control, a formal quality management system and a compliance program.
The new €130 million facility is a part of the company’s multi-year, $2 billion European investment plan, which aims to modernize and expand the UPS network across the continent. Over the past four years, ground time in transit reductions of up to one day from the Netherlands to 25 European countries have made further contributions to UPS’s ever-increasing European transborder connectivity.
UPS also used the opening to highlight its Women Exporters Program, part of a wider project to add 3 million women exporters to the global economy. The company actively supports more inclusive global trade with an international effort to help women business owners learn more about exporting.
The UPS Foundation is partnering with the International Trade Centre (ITC) and their SheTrades initiative, which helps to train and connect women entrepreneurs with buyers around the world. Various projects are under way in Argentina, Nigeria, Vietnam, the UAE and Mexico. UPS is also holding export seminars for female entrepreneurs in Turkey between July and September.
