"We are very proud of our new parcel sorting center in Hamm, which represents an important building block in the management of our future volume growth," said DPD CEO Boris Winkelmann in his opening speech. "The location sets new standards in terms of efficiency and flexibility for our Germany-wide network. In addition, our new depot is also characterized by a particularly sustainable design."

The new parcel sorting center also offers clear advantages from the perspective of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia: "E-commerce is booming. People in North Rhine-Westphalia are also increasingly shopping online. This also requires a suitable infrastructure," says Karl-Uwe Bütof, Head of the "Innovation and Markets" department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. "It is therefore not only positive that we are in a position to offer large logistics areas, but also that companies such as DPD are investing in our federal state and thus strengthening our status as a business and logistics location."

Thomas Hunsteger-Petermann, Lord Mayor of the City of Hamm, adds: "I am delighted that we have been able to convince a large, internationally oriented company to locate in Hamm. As a city, we can expand our economic profile and create new jobs at the same time. Ultimately, our citizens will also benefit from this."

The superlative location was completed after a construction period of just under one and a half years. LIST Bau Nordhorn, a long-standing partner of DPD, was responsible for the construction work. Buildings covering 17,300 square meters were erected on the 122,000 square meter site. The new parcel sorting center in Hamm will replace the previous regional parcel depot in Unna-Königsborn. In view of the strong growth rates, the capacities there are no longer sufficient by far. However, DPD is not withdrawing completely from Unna: the supra-regional distribution center in the Unna Industrial Park will remain in place. From September 7, 2019 the Hamm site will not only supply customers and consignees in the region, but will also represent an important supra-regional hub for DPD.

At the heart of the new depot is an extremely powerful sorting system. When completed, it will be able to process up to 30,000 parcels per hour fully automatically. Even when it is commissioned, up to 17,500 parcels can be sorted per hour. The sorting system was installed by BUDDE Fördertechnik, a long-standing partner of DPD. The conveyor technology, which was installed in just 10 months, has a total length of more than 7.5 kilometers. DPD attaches great importance to low-consumption and low-noise motors and drives.

There is also a clear focus on energy efficiency in other areas of the facility. For example, lighting energy is reduced to a minimum through the installation of strip lighting and LED technology. Heating is provided by a gas heat pump in conjunction with a Zortström storage tank for heating and cooling the buildings. DPD's environmental and energy management system is certified in accordance with the DIN 14001 and DIN 50001 standards, and DPD Germany has also committed itself to completely climate-neutral parcel transportation.