DHL parcel center in a state of emergency: Up to 700,000 parcels are sorted here every day
Created: 12/28/2022, 9:30 am
By: Max Wochinger
The logistical heart of Swiss Post: Thousands of shipments are distributed daily from the DHL parcel center in Aschheim for delivery bases throughout Germany.
© Robert Brouczek
DHL's parcel center in Aschheim is one of the largest in Germany.
At Christmas, up to 700,000 parcels were distributed here every day.
After the holidays, the stress continues - with returns and voucher redemptions.
Aschheim
– The stream of parcels just doesn't stop flowing.
They rattle down the conveyor belt at two meters per second.
A consignment travels around one kilometer here in the sorting center in Aschheim, it is constantly being scanned, thrown off the conveyor belt and pushed down spiral chutes.
DHL site manager Florian Betz grabs a package, it's on its way to Traunstein.
It's a few days before Christmas Eve.
The package with the reindeer and snowflakes printed on it should be under the Christmas tree on the 24th.
Betz and his 500 employees in the parcel center ensure that the shipment gets there on time and without damage.
That's not easy, after all, up to 700,000 parcels pass through the system every day before Christmas.
Shipments from all over the world arrive here and are then roughly distributed to the delivery bases: to Ottobrunn, Hamburg or Frankfurt.
The parcels travel over the conveyor belt at two meters per second.
© Robert Brouczek
Preparations from May
There can be no question of "staaden time" here in the parcel center.
At no other time is the post office as busy as before and after the festival.
"We're already preparing for the Christmas business from May," says Manager Betz, 41. Shifts are being extended, the number of delivery vehicles is increasing and emergency plans are being drawn up.
More than 700,000 parcels and packages pass through the system every day before and after Christmas.
© Robert Brouczek
Employees from all over Europe
And the most important thing: More employees will be hired for the time.
The employees in the parcel center come from all over Europe, more than 30 nations are represented, says Betz.
They work here for at least two months.
Even staff from the offices help out at peak times.
You need special skills to load the parcels into the post trailer: It's like playing Tetris.
Up to 1500 packages fit in the trailer, heavy packages go below.
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The work during the Christmas season is tightly scheduled, the flow of packages never stops.
A standstill of the conveyor belts would be catastrophic at this point - that's exactly what happened last year.
On the evening before Christmas, there was a large area power failure in Aschheim.
"We stood in the dark for several hours," says Betz.
"You're helpless." Then it's time to keep calm.
He makes sure that everything runs smoothly in the parcel center: DHL site manager Florian Betz.
© Robert Brouczek
The state of emergency in the parcel center usually lasts until December 22nd, and in the evening you can already see that there are fewer parcels, says Betz.
An "eerie silence" then blows through the thousands of square meters of the hall.
The returns arrive after Christmas Eve – and gift vouchers are also redeemed.
The number of shipments then levels off at 500,000 a day.
Normal conditions only return in the second week of January.
However, nothing is “normal” at the parcel center: a second 16,000 square meter building with a distribution system is currently being completed on the site.
Later, a total of 72,000 parcels will be sorted here.
Not per day, per hour.