Dutch postal giant PostNL has begun work on a new parcel sorting centre in the northern Netherlands.
The new location in Westzaan will be able to process between 40,000 and 50,000 parcels per day.
Scheduled to open in 2021, it will serve the area in and around the municipality of Zaanstad, including Purmerend, Volendam and Beverwijk. It will employ around 400 people.
The site will also be built to be sustainable, with 900 solar panels, waste heat recovery systems helping it to achieve an outstanding certificate according to the BREEAM set of environmental standards.
2021 will also see PostNL open another location for small parcels in Nieuwegein, in the eastern province of Utrecht. In Belgium, the year will see the opening of a new high-tech centre in Willebroek.
Iris van Wees, operations manager of PostNL Pakketten: ‘Covid-19 has changed consumers’ behaviour. They’re placing more and more online orders. We have responded to the rapid growth in volume by scaling up our capacity by 40%.
“In the run up to the holidays period, we will be continuing those efforts and investing in new locations in order to optimise the delivery process in the growing parcel market. We will be opening two new parcel locations in the Netherlands next year. The sustainable premises in Westzaan is one of those locations.’
