Hermes Germany has held the opening ceremony of its new distribution centre at Münster-Osnabrück Airport, in North Rhine-Westphalia, where more than 140 employees are expected to handle over 100,000 shipments a day.
The start of operations is scheduled for October 2019 and follows the company’s earlier expansion of new distribution centres in Hamburg and Leipzig this year. The most recent state-of-the-art site is located in Greven, directly at Münster-Osnabrück airport.
According to Hermes, more than 100 guests attended the opening ceremony. ECE Projektmanagement developed, planned and constructed the new location.
In future, a further expansion stage of conveyor technology will sort even more shipments. The parcel operator plans a doubling of the plant's capacity to up to 200,000 shipments per day.
In total, €42 million were invested in the logistics centre, which is an important part of the €300 million infrastructure program, with which Hermes is expanding its nationwide logistics network. In addition to the logistics centres opened this year, four more new logistic centres are already in operation in Mainz, as well as in the vicinity of Heilbronn, Augsburg and Berlin, all planned and realized by ECE.
Olaf Schabirosky, CEO of Hermes Germany, explained: "The location here in Greven is ideal for us as a logistics provider due its excellent transport links. In this respect, I am pleased that we were able to establish ourselves in this much sought-after area.
“With the new distribution centre, we offer our business clients and private customers in the west of Germany even faster turnaround times and thus shorter delivery times. Thanks to state-of-the-art conveyor technology used at the site, we are optimally positioned for the continuously increasing shipment volumes.”
He added: “Especially with regard to the approaching Christmas season, we are creating additional capacities in our nationwide network."
Moreover, as the logistics centre in Greven is located in the modern AirportPark FMO between the regional centres of Münster and Osnabrück, the newly created Airportallee guarantees fast access to the A1 (Hamburg-Cologne) motorway and the A1 / A30 (Lotte-Osnabrück) intersection. This way, the logistics centre is optimally accessible.
Peter Vennemeyer, mayor of Greven, explained: "We are pleased that this new, state-of-the-art logistics centre is now being commissioned in Greven. This new building for Hermes Germany is becoming an important cornerstone of sustainable infrastructure development."
All in all, the location covers an area of about 9,000 sqm and was completed in just under a year of construction. Like all new Hermes logistics centres, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB) has certified this site. The certificate recognizes the exemplary handling of resources and the environment. There are also extensive green areas around the new location, which were created together with the Nature Conservation Alliance e.V. (NABU).
Hermes is also focusing on climate-friendly solutions for deliveries. Schabirosky continued: "We are focusing on the nationwide expansion of electromobility. For this project, we have installed a comprehensive charging infrastructure here in Greven with numerous e-charging stations. For us, innovative, environmentally friendly logistics offerings are a matter of social responsibility."
Lastly, Andreas Mattner, ECE Managing Director Office, Traffic, Industries, commented: "We are pleased to hand over another logistics centre to Hermes on schedule. In close cooperation with Hermes Germany, we have been planning and realizing state-of-the-art logistics real estate throughout Germany in various attractive locations throughout the last three years, which are characterized by maximum cost-effectiveness, functionality, flexibility and sustainability."
