Hermes Germany has officially opened its new logistics centre in Bad Rappenau, south-western Germany, with an investment of €44 million, creating 200 full-time jobs at the facility.
The new facility, which will operationally become part of Hermes’ logistics network on 15 May, is part of the company’s €300 million investment in nine logistics centres to be completed by 2019. With this infrastructure expansion, Hermes is preparing for continuous growth in the overall 2C parcel market (B2C and C2C).
"We are very proud of this latest parcel centre. Its opening is the first milestone in our extensive future and investment programme. By massively expanding our parcel network, we are getting ready for further growth and the growing demands from online trade,” Hermes Germany CEO Frank Rausch said at the opening ceremony of the Bad Rappenau facility.
"By 2019, we are investing over €300 million in the construction or extension of nine logistics centres across Germany. This means that in the future we will be present in every part of the country with extremely efficient sorting and distribution centres. We are literally moving closer to our customers," he emphasised. The aim is to create capacity to sort more than 400 million parcels a year. The new facility is Hermes’ largest parcel centre in south-western Germany and will increasingly speed up parcel deliveries for both business and private customers.
The logistics centre, constructed in ten months by Hamburg-based ECE on behalf of Hermes, has the capacity to sort 60 million shipments per year which corresponds to 200,000 shipments per day. It is directly located at the access road to the A6 motorway between the important traffic intersections Weinsberg and Walldorf. The centre is thus optimally accessible from all directions for customers and logistics partners. This allows retailers to feed in their consignments later and profit from faster deliveries thanks to shorter delivery times.
The location covers a building area of around 10,000 sqm and features 116 gates for loading and unloading trucks and small vehicles. The state-of-the-art conveying and sorting technology “Belt Tray Sorter” by Beumer processes up to 25,000 items per hour at a speed of 2.5 m/s.
In addition, the logistics centre is equipped with a large-size sorter which ensures reliable distribution of particularly large and heavy shipments. All transport and logistics processes are controlled in real-time via an efficient IT management system. Moreover, calibrated weight and volume measurement of all shipments contributes to the exact calculation of transport capacities and the environmentally-friendly utilisation of the Hermes fleet.
Hermes traditionally places a strong emphasis on sustainable design at its sorting centers. The new location in Bad Rappenau has received the gold certification of the German Sustainable Building Association (DGNB). The award recognises outstanding building concepts with special ecological and social added value. Thus, all structural requirements for future electrification of the vehicle fleet were taken into account and the property was designed completely barrier-free.
"We set ourselves high targets in terms of environmental and climate protection. A central starting point is our vehicle fleet. By 2025, we want to provide zero-emission deliveries via electric vehicles in all major German cities,” Rausch stressed. Therefore, the company recently signed a strategic partnership with Mercedes-Benz Vans to electrify its vehicle fleet.
Currently, two other Hermes parcel centres are being constructed by ECE in Mainz and Berlin-Brandenburg, as part of the €300 million investment. Both facilities are scheduled to be completed and start operations this year.
