UPS has cut delivery times for standard parcels between more than 350 cities in 26 European countries by as much as 24 hours after investing heavily in its network and infrastructure over the last couple of years and with more to come.
Customers across Europe will now benefit from faster transit times for UPS Standard, its most economical ground service, the company announced today. For instance, a customer will now be able to send a package from Athens to Madrid in four days instead of five, or from Berlin to Bucharest in as little as three days.
German businesses, for example, can now send UPS Standard parcels by road faster to 13 different European countries, including France, Italy, Spain and Sweden. UK customers will benefit from faster ground shipping to Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.
UPS has also improved UPS Express services in north-western Poland and Lithuania, offering businesses later pick-up times and time-definite express shipping services to and from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, and the UK.
“Business owners need to be confident their customers will receive their orders on time, at the right place and at the right price,” said Nando Cesarone, president, UPS Europe. “To help businesses do this, we’ve reduced shipping times by up to 24 hours.”
He pointed out: “Businesses that export are more successful in good times and more resilient in times of adversity. UPS’s network enhancements make it easier for businesses in Europe to trade faster across borders.”
The recent time in transit improvements are part of UPS’s $2 billion investment in its European network and infrastructure between 2014 and 2019. UPS has already completed one-third of this network expansion and redesign program, with new facilities announced in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the UK.
In Germany, for example, UPS is investing $80 million in a new parcel centre in Bielefeld, northern Germany, which will go into operation in October 2017. A further $80 million is being spent to expand the existing hub at Herne, in north-west Germany.
In the UK, UPS will invest close to £120 million in a new 32,000 sqm package sorting and delivery facility at the DP World London Gateway logistics site in the south east of England. The facility, expected to be completed in the summer of 2017, will act as a UK hub and distribution centre for the local area as well as a key gateway to UPS’s global transportation network. Once completed, the facility will be able to process approximately 30,000 packages per hour, with room for further expansion.
