GLS invests EUR 4m in hub facility in Czech Republic
Royal Mail’s international parcel network GLS has established a new international hub in the Czech Republic. The EUR 4m facility in Jihlava should see operations transferred from the company’s existing hub nearby by October 2012, with the new facility able to process twice as many packages – around 120,000 a day.
Amsterdam-based GLS said the new facility “significantly” reinforces its European network, with modern sorting and safety technology and 68 loading gates.
As well as serving as the main centre for national deliveries within the Czech Republic, the Jihlava site will provide a key international link for GLS with daily scheduled connections through to GLS distribution centres in Austria, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
Rico Back, chief executive of GLS Group said: “Trade between Eastern and Western Europe has been continuing to increase for four years. We expect this trend to continue and are investing to provide a high quality performance to retain and gain customers.”
As with other new GLS depots, the facility at Jihlava has been built using technologies designed to reduce its environmental impacts, including use of recyclable materials, renewable heat pump systems and energy-saving lighting systems.
The facility is the 12th to be built through the GLS “Think Green” sustainability initiative.
GLS currently has 37 central transhipment points and 660 depots, covering 42 European countries with 16,510 vehicles in daily use. The company handled 375m packages in 2011/12, with an annual turnover of EUR 1.85bn.
