DPD has begun construction work on a new €45 million parcel sorting centre in Augsburg that will become a major hub in southern Germany.
The new depot, covering an area of 53,500 sqm, will replace the existing DPD facility in the town early in 2020 and initially serve the same delivery area. In the long term it will also relieve the pressure on DPD's existing parcel sorting centres in Neufahrn and Nuremberg.
In the initial phase, around 36,000 parcels are to be handled daily in Augsburg, rising to 93,000 in the final stage of development. In the final phase 380 workers will be deployed at the depot, 200 of them delivery personnel. The depot will also feature energy-saving measures, including LED lighting and power supply for electric vehicles.
"I'm delighted that we will soon be able to start up here in Augsburg with massively expanded capacities," explained Thomas Ohnhaus, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at DPD Germany. "E-commerce is booming and bringing with it massive growth in parcel volumes. As an important hub in the south of Germany, the new facility will relieve the strain on the surrounding depots and at the same time lay the groundwork for coping with future increases in parcel quantities in the long term."
DPD pointed out that the sustained growth in online retailing has led to a significant increase in parcel volumes. In order to be able to manage these operations in the long term, the company is increasingly investing in the construction of further parcel sorting centres. New DPD depots are currently being built in Kiel and Hamm, and only last year DPD opened two new parcel sorting centres in Steinen and Nagold.
