Swiss Post invests 150 million in new parcel centers

This is in response to the strong growth in online retailing and the increasing demand from customers to receive shipments as quickly as possible, according to Swiss Post. By 2020, Swiss Post plans to build one regional parcel center each in Cadenazzo (TI), in the Landquart area (GR) and in Vétroz (VS). These new regional parcel centers will relieve the existing parcel centers in Daillens (VD), Härkingen (SO) and Frauenfeld (TG).

In the future, parcel shipments will be re-sorted and delivered in the respective regions without taking the route via the previous parcel centers, as is the case today. As a result, part of the parcel logistics will be transferred to the regions. The first of the three new regional parcel centers is being built in Cadenazzo on the site of the existing distribution base. The plan is to build an industrial building with docking stations for trucks and delivery vehicles and a parcel sorting facility. In the future, all parcels posted and delivered in the canton of Ticino will be sorted there. The facility is scheduled to go into operation at the end of 2019.

A further regional parcel center is planned in Vétroz and in the Landquart area by the end of 2020. The existing services of the parcel distribution sites in Bex, Brig and Sion will be merged with parcel sorting at the regional parcel center in Vétroz. The new parcel center in the Landquart area will combine the current Buchs and Landquart sites. Sorting capacity at these sites will be designed for 8,000 parcels per hour.

Swiss Post says it is building three regional parcel centers in response to strong growth in the parcel market. In 2016, it delivered almost 122 million parcels. This represents growth of around six percent compared to 2015. The main driver of the increasing parcel volume is the flourishing online trade. Between 2014 and 2016, Swiss Post already invested around 60 million in expanding its three large parcel centers in Daillens, Härkingen and Frauenfeld.