HERNE, March 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today UPS (NYSE: UPS) held an official ground-breaking ceremony to announce plans to expand its package sorting and delivery facility in Herne in the heart of the Ruhr area in Germany. The $80 million project, due to be completed by the end of 2017, will more than double the operating area and sorting capacity of the hub.
“This ground-breaking reaffirms UPS’s commitment to businesses of all sizes in the region and our confidence in the German economy,” said Frank Sportolari, president of UPS Germany. “Herne has been a key location in our network since we opened the original building in 1986, and today’s investment will support our commitment to reliably and efficiently connect our customers to destinations across Germany, Europe and the world.”
After expansion, the Herne facility will have an operating area of 25,000 square meters and be equipped with advanced technology that will increase its package sorting capacity to more than 36,000 pieces per hour. Furthermore, the number of loading and unloading bays for containers will almost double to about 130 and the number of parking positions for those iconic Brown delivery trucks will increase to 180. UPS currently employs 1,100 people in its operation in Herne, and the expansion is expected to create up to 300 new jobs at the hub when the new capacity is fully utilized.
Herne’s Lord Mayor, Frank Dudda, expressed his delight about the investment UPS is making; “This will create important new jobs for the city and the region. At the same time, the expansion strengthens Herne as a logistics and business location. The strong infrastructure and central location of Herne and the Ruhr area position our city as an ideal logistics site.”
Michael Groschek, Minister of Transport North-Rhine Westphalia is also excited about the expansion; “The UPS decision to invest millions in Herne and to create jobs proves that our state is an attractive location for the logistics industry. It is also another great example of the importance of logistics as a motor for the growth of the state’s economy and its labor market.”
UPS has been serving customers in Germany for forty years and has more than 18,000 employees at 83 facilities. In 2014, UPS completed an expansion of its European air hub in Cologne, which enables connections to UPS’s global logistics network.
About UPS
UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the transportation of packages and freight; the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Headquartered in Atlanta, USA, UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the Web at ups.com® and its corporate blog can be found at Longitudes.ups.com. To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS.
Rudolf Douque
rdouque@ups.com
404-828-8896
Holger Ostwald, UPS Germany
Holger.ostwald@ups.com
+49 (0) 2131 947 2625
