Once completed, the facility will be the largest logistics center in Europe, says Copenhagen-based DSV. The complex is needed to enable future growth in air freight, sea freight as well as road and solutions activities. All sectors face a growth surge following the Panalpina acquisition, DSV managers forecast.
The Danish port city of Horsens, located on the east side of Jutland, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, has not been known as a logistical hotspot until now. Attractions there are Denmark's Industrial Museum, the Ostbirk Church, or the "Rediscovered Bridge", an idyllic bridge construction over the small river Gudenaen, which is especially popular with tourists.
Gigantic dimensions
Soon, however, the city will be on everyone's lips, at least those of logisticians. The Danish company DSV is planning the construction of Europe's largest logistics center in Horsens on a
700,000 m² plot. According to plans, the future facility will be of gigantic dimensions, consisting of a 200,000 to 269,000 m² warehouse space, depending on demand, a 50,000 m² cross docking
terminal and office space totaling 18,000 m². All in all, it will cost 268 million euros, based on current price considerations. By consolidating its warehouse and cross-docking terminals in the
Horsens area, DSV aims to increase efficiency and productivity combined with a greener profile and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, states the company in a release.
The project is pressing because DSV’s dispersed ground facilities in the Horsens region have become too small to accommodate the Danish logistics giant’s large volumes and are completely
incapable of shouldering the expected future transshipment quantities, particularly after DSV’s acquisition of competitor Panalpina.
All under one roof
"In DSV we focus on growing our business,” Simon H. Galsgaard, Managing Director for DSV Road A/S in Denmark, explains. As part of this strategy “we want to consolidate all our
activities within Air & Sea, Road and Solutions in one location to ensure that our operations are efficient and that we provide the best possible solutions to our customers.”
Especially from the point of view of air freight, Horsens doesn’t seem to be the hottest spot to build a huge logistics center because of the trucking distance to Copenhagen Kastrup Airport (263
km) or to Hamburg’s Helmut Schmidt Airport (288 km), the next available international gateway.
Considerations that obviously didn’t play any role for DSV in their decision pro Horsens, as Mr. Galsgaard confirms: “Horsens is a strategic hub for transports between the Nordics and all
other European countries, located at the crossroads of trade between north and south.” And he mentions another aspect in favor of the place situated in the middle of Denmark: “We want to
retain our many talented employees and with this new development we perpetuate our connection with the city."
Single leaseholder
The new facility will be erected on a plot adjacent to DSV’s present buildings in Horsens. Not only will it be Denmark's but also Europe's largest logistics center with only one leaseholder –
DSV.
It is not surprising that Horsen’s mayor, Peter Soerensen, welcomes DSV’s decision to invest in his city: “Building a facility of this size will mean a lot of additional jobs available during
the construction phase, something which local craftsmen and haulers will benefit from,” he states.
According to DVS’s management, the groundbreaking ceremony will take place in August 2021, provided all commercial, technical, and administrative points have been clarified. The first staff will
move in by the end of 2022 or in early 2023, once the office building, the cross-docking terminal and the large warehouse have been built. The project is expected to be entirely completed during
the course of 2026.
Heiner Siegmund
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