UPS has opened a new highly automated facility in the Netherlands which will help it to serve the western Europe region.
Called a superhub, the 27000 square metre facility at Eindhoven will be able to sort up to 29000 packages per hour. In the future UPS said this could expand to 40000.
UPS said the location was chosen for the presence of high-tech industry and ability to serve goods flows between Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.
Nando Cesarone, president at UPS International, said: “Superhubs like this one are game changers and drive our European transborder connectivity, especially in the tech corridor where Eindhoven sits, the fastest growing part of the country where speed and reliability count.
“This tech-enabled facility provides fast and efficient connections to UPS’s smart global logistics network that moves 3% of the world’s GDP every day. Worldwide, more than 80% of tech start-ups are global from day one – they’re micro-multinationals – because they leverage digital platforms for instant access to world markets.”
UPS claimed earlier this year that nearly 80% of packages will be going through facilities using automation by the end of 2019. On its Q4 call with investors, chief information and engineering officer Juan Perez said the company will add 20 new automated facilities in 2019, bringing a further 40,000 packages per hour of capacity online.
In a conference call for the company’s Q1 2019 results, CEO David Abney said his company still had a “mutually beneficial relationship” with Amazon and the company would continue to focus on “serving [Amazon’s] needs”.
