DHL Parcel has opened the largest and greenest parcel sorting center for the Benelux at the sustainable business park De Wildeman in Zaltbommel. The sorting center will process up to half a million packages per day. The construction involves an investment of 84 million euros; DHL's largest investment in the Netherlands to date. It also underlines DHL's position as the market leader in the business market and a major second player in the e-commerce market. The DHL Parcel Hub Zaltbommel, as the name officially says, has been realized according to the BREEAM Excellent criteria for sustainable buildings.
The opening was performed by Ken Allen, Member of the Board of the DPDHL Group and Wouter van Benten, CEO of DHL Parcel Benelux.
DHL's growth, both in the e-commerce segment of online shopping and in the business segment, urgently required capacity expansion. The volume growth, which is written in double digits, was always well managed. After the opening of the new hub in Amsterdam in 2018, this expansion can further facilitate growth. In addition, the CO2 footprint of the processes is reduced by efficient and modern equipment.
The building, which covers 30.000 m2, is located on a site the size of 15 football pitches and was built by Hercuton. The sorting installation is from Vanderlande Industries. It is the most modern of its kind, with a tire of more than 2 kilometers in length that runs over two floors. Tens of kilometers of wiring also transport all data that accompanies the sorting process. It can be used to sort 500.000 packages per day, which can be sorted to 240 locations. This includes 140 depots and 21 DHL sorting centers in the Benelux and destinations in all European countries. This enables late delivery times for senders and webshops, which can therefore deliver until 10:00 in the morning for home delivery on the same day throughout the Netherlands.
The building meets the BREEAM Excellent standard for sustainable buildings. This concerns both the materials used and the operation. For example, 11.000 solar panels generate 2,5 million kWh of electricity per year, there is no gas connection and geothermal energy is used, rainwater is used and an ecological garden of 4.000 m2.
350 people will work in the DHL Parcel Hub Zaltbommel. This is an extension of the existing number of 7.000 jobs of DHL Parcel in the Benelux, partly because the current sorting center in Den Bosch will also remain open. Previous plans to have this location completely dissolved in Hub Zaltbommel have been put aside, because that capacity also remains necessary.
The expansion is part of a multi-year, large-scale investment plan. Wouter van Benten: “We invest to facilitate our growth, but also to expand our service level. Digitization plays a very important role in this. Moreover, the new installations help to make our processes more sustainable ”. In addition to buildings, investments are being made in the fleet with residential-friendly smaller vans, including 300 electric ones. In addition, a great deal is invested in digitization, which makes processes more efficient and new shipping services can be introduced, whereby the sender and recipient have more influence on the shipping and delivery process, such as period delivery, evening delivery and in possibilities for the consumer to change the location during the delivery process. and time of issue.
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