Yesterday (24 March), the U.S. integrator celebrated the official opening of a new sorting center at its European gateway Cologne/Bonn airport. UPS had spent $200m for building the state-of-the-art facility, it’s the largest investment ever outside the USA.
A symbolic push on the button and the new sorting center went online. It ups the total throughput capacity by 70 percent, enabling UPS to process 190,000 packages per hour at its European gateway Cologne. Adding the existing building to the total handling space, UPS meanwhile manages an area of 15 hectares, comparable to the extent of 15 soccer fields, noted Cindy Miller, President of UPS Europe.
CGN was first served by UPS in 1986. Ever since, traffic air increased and so did the importance of CGN for the package delivery company’s European and global network. “The presence of UPS is an unparalleled success story,” emphasized the airport’s Managing Director Michael Garvens in his address. “The investment in this sorting center is a clear commitment to Cologne as one of the major sites of the company’s operations. This safeguards 2,500 jobs in the long term.”
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft said that the commitment of one of the world champions in logistics clearly demonstrates that the overall framework for doing biz in Germany’s most industrialized state are well in place and there is a high level of trust in the economic abilities of North Rhine-Westphalia State.
The city’s Lord Mayor Juergen Roters concluded the ceremony by saying that Cologne’s gate to the world will be further opened up by UPS due to its new sorting facility and the related activities.
Heiner Siegmund