OREANDA-NEWS. DHL Parcel is investing in the business location of Bochum with the construction of another highly modern mega parcel center, this time in the heart of the Ruhr region. Right on schedule, the official construction phase for this major project was heralded today with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by NRW Economics Minister Andreas Pinkwart, Bochum's mayor Thomas Eiskirch, Jürgen Gerdes, Board Member for the Post - eCommerce - Parcel division at Deutsche Post DHL Group, Rolf Heyer, managing director of Bochum Perspektive 2022 GmbH, and Michael Dufhues, Board Member of general contractor Bremer AG. By the fall of 2019, the new facility will be able to process up to 50,000 shipments per hour thanks to innovative sorting technology, making the Bochum site one of the largest and most efficient parcel centers in Europe.

"Our network - with an average of 4.3 million parcels per day - leads the way in Germany when it comes to capacity and quality," says Jürgen Gerdes, emphasizing the project's significance for the company's customers and for the region. "Now we are making our network even more efficient - and making the lives of our customers even easier as a result. Our Packstations, parcel boxes and other innovative delivery services also have a hand in this." Gerdes describes the location of Bochum as ideal: "The new parcel sorting center in the heart of the Ruhr region is a very important gateway to one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe." He also points out the benefits for business customers in the region. Thanks to their proximity to the parcel center, their shipments can be picked up very late and still be delivered anywhere in Germany the following day.

"Logistics and trade are two important pillars of our economy in North Rhine-Westphalia. These are closely intertwined and changing fundamentally through digitization," Economics and Digitization Minister Andreas Pinkwart emphasizes. "With modern parcel sorting centers like this one, DHL is creating the conditions to meet the requirements of e-commerce - as a dynamic growth engine of trade - in the future as well. I am particularly pleased that DHL has found an excellent location for this project here in Bochum at Mark 51°7."

At the beginning of last year, DHL acquired an area of about 140,000 square meters at the Mark 51°7 property, which is the former Opel site, in Bochum-Laer. The parcel center's building alone - about 40,000 square meters - will be equivalent in size to five soccer fields. In order to operate the building in the most energy-efficient way possible, a heat-driven cogeneration (CHP) unit will be used in combination with a photovoltaic system installed on the roof. Energy-saving LED bulbs provide the lighting. DHL is investing a sum in the tens of millions of euros to build the parcel sorting center. The DHL location is scheduled to go online in 2019, creating as many as 600 jobs with social security benefits and regulated by wage agreements in the process.

"Today, we are taking a decisive step toward the revival of this area, which is so important for the development of our city. I am pleased with the sustained commitment of DHL and the associated creation of hundreds of new jobs for people of varying qualifications and skills," Bochum Mayor Thomas Eiskirch says. "The establishment of the new DHL location is a strong signal of renewal and a vote of confidence for the sustainability of the city and the entire region."

"With the punctual transfer of the site to DHL, Bochum Perspektive 2022 and Bochum Economic Development are proving once again that they have the capability to master complex infrastructure measures as well," says Rolf Heyer, managing director of Bochum Perspektive 2022 GmbH, which is responsible for converting the area.

Committed to expanding its parcel infrastructure in answer to the ever-rising parcel volumes, DHL is making sure it can continue to offer parcel senders and recipients alike reliable, fast and flexible service. Already today, together the company's 34 parcel sorting centers process more than one million shipments every hour. The new location in Bochum is an important addition to the existing parcel network and represents a cornerstone in improving the efficiency of the DHL parcel network even more in the medium term. As recently as June 2016, the company commenced operating what was then the largest parcel center in Germany at its location in Obertshausen, where the sorting capacity is also 50,000 shipments per hour. By comparison, most DHL parcel centers process between 30,000 and 40,000 shipments per hour.