Feature, Freight News, Road

Palletways opens new German hub

[ January 6, 2017   //   Chris ]

Network operator Palletways opened a new national hub at Knüllwald, central Germany.

The new 50,000m² site includes a 7,300m² transhipment hall, parking and infrastructure, which will upgrade services from the existing hub in Homberg and triple delivery capacity across the region. The new hub will allow daily connections between Germany and the UK as well as significantly improved premium services from Germany to Benelux.

Palletways has also reserved space at the site for another, almost equally large, area to accommodate future growth and create storage capacity for fulfilment services.

Managing director of Palletways UK, Dave Walmsley, said: ““The new hub offers an outstanding improvement to our European connections for our UK customers. In-bound and outbound volumes between the UK and Germany will move across our pan European network faster and more efficiently than before, which presents the opportunity for us to improve our customer service even further.

“The new hub will be supported by our pan-European IT platform and central customer service operation in Germany to ensure we provide the best possible customer experience.”

Palletways Group chief executive, James Wilson, added: “Our European network has experienced significant and continuous growth over the last decade, which has enabled us to grow organically. This year alone we’ve added three new hubs to our network, including Lyon and Montpellier. We are also investing in award winning IT systems and enhanced infrastructure to offer the best service possible for our members and customers.”

Palletways’ pan-European network handles more than 38,000 pallets across Europe every day and volume growth is predicted to reach 10% next year. The company has recently invested in additional new hubs including Montpellier and Lyon (France), Fradley (UK) and expanded existing facilities in Zaragoza (Spain) and Milan (Italy). The expansion of Palletways coincides with the recent acquisition of the business by Imperial and the company embarking on its next phase of growth across Europe.

(The next printed issue of FBJ (FBJ 1 2017) will include a report on pallet networks in Europe.)

Tags: palletways