DHL Parcel has opened in Zaltbommel its greenest parcel sorting centre in the Benelux to date. The centre has a daily capacity of 500,000 parcels sent to 240 locations in Europe.
Never before has DHL invested so much money in the Netherlands. 84 million euros were spent on building the DC. Now there is a 30,000-square-metre building, built by Hercuton. The sorting facility comes from Vanderlande Industries, with a conveyor of over 2 kilometres running over two floors. Some 700 trucks will come and go here daily. The building now employs 170 people, but that number will eventually be doubled.
There will be 11,000 solar panels on the roof of the building, generating seventy per cent of the energy required. The centre is completely gas-free and operates with a geothermal heating system.
Delivery times
The new building acts as a central transhipment point, just like the DHL locations in Amsterdam and Utrecht. Notable are the late delivery times for shippers within the netherlands, who can submit an order for same-day home delivery until 10am.
Double-digit growth
According to DHL, capacity expansion was badly needed. The carrier has seen double-digit growth in recent years. To accommodate that increase, a hub in Amsterdam was already opened in 2018. With the opening of the DC in Zaltbommel, DHL Parcel says it is ready for further growth.
