Cologne Bonn Airport: UPS opens expanded European air hub

After an investment of USD 200 million the European logistics centre of UPS can handle up to 190,000 parcels per hour

UPS, the globally operating provider of solutions for freight and parcel shipments, has announced the official opening of its USD 200 million-expansion of the European air hub at the Cologne Bonn Airport. Within the network of the ‘integrator’ the German site has the status of the European gate to the world of international trade and export. The expansion, which has taken two years and required 200 additional jobs already, is one of the biggest facility investments in the history of UPS. It consolidates the position of the enterprise as the major employer at the airport, with currently more than 2,500 staff.

“As a result of this expansion we can provide an area as large as 15 football fields, to respond to a progressive growing export industry“, says Cindy Miller, President UPS Europe. “This secures the Cologne Bonn air hub remains the core of our international express-network. The hub has a key function for worldwide air freight operations of UPS and counts among the biggest and most modern sorting facilities.“

The operating area now extends over more than 105,000 m². Eight additional automated sorting facilities increase the parcel sorting capacity of the hub by about 70 per cent to 190,000 parcels per hours – about 53 parcels per second. The conveyor belt is about 40 kilometres long. A parcel takes about 15 minutes to pass the conveyor from the point of unloading to the point of loading.

In the course of the expansion the facility was fitted with state-of-the-art technology. The expansion of the building allows to handle larger express freight shipments. The Cologne/Bonn hub is an international logistics hub for major multinationals as well as small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe, who want to use the dense global transport network of UPS for their trading oeprations.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the UPS air hub Hannelore Kraft, Prime Minister of North Rhine Westphalia, welcomed the decision of the logistics enterprise to expand its sorting facility at the Colonge/Bonn Airport: “One of the world’s leading logistics enterprises deciding to make such a major investment, confirms the conditions are right in North Rhine Westphalia, and that there is trust into the economic and export country North Rhine Westphalia and its employees.“

www.ups.com

Quelle: LogEastics
Portal: www.logistik-express.com