Vanderlande to equip highly-automated depots for DPD Germany

Automated handling system specialist Vanderlande Industries is to design and install equipment for two new parcel sorting depots for DPD in Germany, including a major new hub in the Cologne area. The new depots at Erfstadt and at Fohren, both in western Germany, will have a high level of automation and qill need to process a wide range of shipments “rapidly and reliably”, said Netherlands-based Vanderlande Industries.

The EUR 42m Erfstadt facility in particular is will be unique among DPD’s existing 75 depots, processing up to 18,000 parcels per hour, including items as large as tyres.

The 15,000 square metre facility will have 320 loading bays, with Vanderlande planning on fitting two of its Crossorter 1500 sorter loops, each of which will be 400 metres long, processing items up to 1.5 metres by 80cm in dimension at a speed of 2.5 metres per second.

Each of the Crossorter machines at Erfstadt will be capable of processing up to 11,000 parcels each hour.

The Fohren facility will have a smaller capacity, handling about 8,000 items each hour. Vanderlande is to install its Posisorter system, which has a length of around 80 metres.

Both of the new depots will have telescopic belt conveyor systems for the input of parcels, including automatic weighing, scanning and volume measurement systems.

Vanderlande said the new sortation systems are expected to start up in December 2011 in Fohren and in the summer of 2012 in Erfstadt, replacing the current sites in Frechen and Sehlem.

DPD is part of La Poste’s GeoPost Group, with its headquarters in Aschaffenburg, Germany.The company handles abour 2m parcels a day with 800 depots and branches in 40 countries.