Deutsche Post DHL is building the largest parcel center in Germany

• Sorting capacity of 50,000 items per hour is unique nationwide
• Double-digit million investment in Hessen

In the Hessen city of Obertshausen, Deutsche Post DHL is taking another significant step in the modernization of its parcel network in Germany: constructing the largest parcel center in the nation. Its partner in the endeavor is Alpha Industrial, a specialist in logistics properties.

Deutsche Post DHL, the market leader on the German parcel market, has acquired a building plot of some 140,000 square meters in a municipality near Frankfurt/Main, on which the first parcel center in the nation with a sorting capacity of 50,000 items per hour will be constructed. “This investment represents another important milestone for our new parcel concept and our network capacity,” said Uwe Brinks, Chief Production Officer at Deutsche Post DHL. “The result will be one of the largest and most modern parcel centers in Europe. We have already submitted the building application to the Obertshausen municipality and want to begin construction this year.”

The first step for Deutsche Post DHL was a financial investment, a sum in the double-digit millions dedicated to the new mega parcel center at the new site near the A3 highway. The center is scheduled to begin operations in spring of 2014. The building alone will have 40,000 square meters of interior space and be equipped with the most modern technology. “The new center will not only create an additional platform for further growth in the parcel sector, it will also safeguard jobs in the Frankfurt metropolitan area and create new employment opportunities there,” Brinks emphasized. The new location will create some 600 new positions, both in parcel sorting and delivery. A delivery base connected directly to the sorting center will also be built in Obertshausen and help further shorten parcel transit times.
A project partnership with Alpha Industrial

Alpha Industrial, the project partner, is responsible for developing the new plot of land in close coordination with the Obertshausen municipality. Alpha Industrial currently manages more than 650,000 square meters of property and is a leading asset manager in the logistics and commercial property sector in Germany. Obertshausen Mayor Bernd Roth had this to say about the significance of the project: “We are proud that Deutsche Post is building in Obertshausen and thus helping to ensure that the region remains a location for business.” Thanks to its central location and excellent connection to the long distance transport network, Obertshausen is optimally suited as a place to build the largest parcel center in Germany.

The new construction project in Hesse is part of a larger investment of 750 million euros that Deutsche Post DHL is making to modernize and expand its parcel network. By 2015, the new technology - machines, individual modules and new IT applications - as well as some updated production processes will have substantially increased performance capacities in parcel production. The measures already taken by the company have resulted in a jump of more than 15 percent in network capacities as a whole.