UPS opens $200m European hub expansion facility
UPS has completed the $200m expansion project at its European air hub within Cologne/Bonn airport in Germany. The company opened the 105,000 square metre facility today after two years of construction.
With eight automated parcel sorting systems, the expansion increases the hub’s sorting capacity by 70% so that it can process 190,000 packages per hour, UPS said.
The facility’s conveyor system now covers a distance of about 40km, with a package taking on average 15 minutes to move through the hub from unloading to loading point.
UPS said the project has created an additional 200 jobs, taking its workforce at the airport to more than 2,500.
“With this upgrade, we now have the equivalent of 15 football fields of sorting space for a growing export economy on the move,” said Cindy Miller, President, UPS Europe. “All of this ensures that UPS’s Cologne/Bonn air hub remains the centrepiece of the company’s European express network, a key component of UPS’s global air operations, and one of the largest and most advanced sorting facilities in the world.”
The newly expanded hub can now sort 53 packages every second, UPS says
The UPS hub serves as an international logistics hub for the company’s European customers, from major multinationals to small businesses, to access the company’s global network.
UPS said it has had great success in Europe and “solid” export volume growth in Europe over the past decade. The expansion now positions the company for continued growth in its international express business, it said.
“The Cologne/Bonn hub is our flagship facility in Europe and continues to serve us and the needs of our customers well,” said Cindy Miller.
“Our strategic investment in Germany, one of the world’s top exporters, underscores our commitment to the European economy. This is part of a long-term strategy to help our customers successfully compete and do business on the important trading lanes within Europe and linking Europe to North America and Asia in an era when free trade agreements on the horizon promise growth for companies large and small.”
