Chronopost extends French regional network
La Poste’s French domestic express subsidiary Chronopost has further extended its regional network under its ongoing network restructuring.
Chronopost said it has opened a new facility close to Nimes to strengthen its presence in the southern region of Languedoc-Roussillon. The facility will handle the distribution of some 1,200 parcels daily and 250 collections. This is its 16th opening in France this year, including the regional hub at Lyon-Corbas and a 2,600 sqm depot in Marseille.
Chronopost, which is restructuring its domestic network around five hubs and 68 local centres, has invested EUR 120 million in the network since 2005. Its new EUR 50 million, 13,000 sqm national hub at Chilly-Mazarin, south of Paris, due to open in early 2008, will handle about 60 pct of its domestic shipments.
Meanwhile, Exapaq, the small parcels carrier acquired by La Poste in early 2006, opened two new facilities strategically located for traffic to Germany and Italy earlier this year, giving its six hubs across France with total capacity to handle 260,000 packages per day.
The fully-automated sorting centre at Beaune in Burgundy, with maximum capacity of 12,000 packages per hour, serves as a connection point with Germany and the DPD network. The Saint-Rambert hub, in the Drome region close to the Italian border, acts as an entry portal for all packages coming from Italy and as an exit portal for packages headed for Italy and Spain. This mechanized sorting centre has a maximum processing capacity of 8,000 packages per hour.
