New UPS sorting facility in France signals optimism for EU growth

UPS appears to be confident that France and the European Union, – even without the U.K. – will remain a strong-enough economic driver of the global economy to justify a new US$100 million facility nears the adjoining cities of Corbeil-Essonnes and Evry. The center is due to open in early 2018 and will feature UPS’s automated package sorting technology. Upon completion, the facility will replace two smaller ones, creating an additional 100 new UPS jobs.

France’s Prime Minister was on hand to ring in the occasion, noting that “The new UPS hub in Corbeil-Essonnes/Evry will allow French businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to take advantage of more efficient logistics, as well as export more easily and conquer new markets.”

The location is a strategic choice, explained Mike Harrell, managing director of UPS France. Corbeil-Essonnes and Evry, located about 30 minutes southeast of Paris, “are two economic centers in the Essonnes region, with more than 2,000 businesses of all sizes,” he said.

According to UPS, the facility will have an operating area of more than 320,000 square feet and employ 950 people. The center will be able to sort up to 37,000 packages per hour, with 124 loading and unloading bays. At full capacity, it is designed to accommodate 125 UPS delivery trucks.

Nando Cesarone , the president of UPS’s European operations, said the integrator is “bullish on Europe’s growth potential,” noting that the planned sorting facility is part of a $2 billion investment program across the continent.