New FedEx hub officially opened in Cologne
FedEx Express and Cologne Bonn Airport have officially opened FedEx’s new Central and Eastern Europe hub. The two parties jointly invested EUR 140m in the new hub, which commenced operations in June 2010 after relocating from Frankfurt am Main.
FedEx staff count at the Cologne/Bonn site has grown rapidly from approximately 35 to more than 450 employees.
The new hub enables FedEx to expand its operational capacity in Germany and across Europe, as well as pursuing its long-term ambition of increasing the company’s’ footprint in Eastern Europe and facilitate access to other markets.
It also helps the company continue to offer its customers a seamless and reliable service, the company said.
A company spokesman said: “The Cologne hub is a vital facility in FedEx worldwide network, acting as a central conduit for packages arriving by ground or air from Central and Eastern Europe en-route to the US or Asia via the FedEx Europe hub in Paris.
“In addition, the Cologne hub will also deliver shipments to companies throughout Germany and across Central and Eastern Europe.”
David L. Cunningham Jr, president, FedEx Express Asia Pacific, said: “Asia has long been a key trading partner with Europe. The new Cologne hub is a testament to FedEx optimism in the economic potential of Germany and the central and Eastern Europe region. In the first seven months in 2010, Germany observed EUR 87.7bn trade surplus among the Member States.
“With the new Cologne hub, customers will benefit from the enhanced access and connectivity between Asia and Europe.”
According to EuroStat, Europe registered encouraging trading performance with Asian countries in the first seven months in 2010. The export from China, South Korea, and Japan to the 27 states of the European Union marked increases of 25%, 13%, and 20% respectively year-on-year.
The hub in Cologne has been described as “one of the most modern in the world”. Its fully-automated sorting system can process up to 18,000 packages and documents per hour. The roof features FedEx largest solar power plant worldwide in terms of surface area and represents one of the largest rooftop solar plants in North Rhine-Westphalia.
