15. September 2020 | Background
State of North Rhine-Westphalia presents awards: DPD Germany receives the NRW.INVEST AWARD for its parcel sorting centre in Hamm
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Parcel service provider honoured for its exemplary commitment in North Rhine-Westphalia and its contribution to the state's economic development
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Investment totalled over 50 million euros
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In its final stage DPD Germany's largest depot on 122,000 square metres will be able to handle up to 200,000 parcels a day and provide jobs for 800 workers
Düsseldorf, 15 September 2020 – At the Ständehaus in Düsseldorf the NRW.INVEST AWARD was yesterday presented to four international companies by Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, Minister for Economics and Digital Affairs, and Petra Wassner, Managing Director of the state-owned economic development agency NRW.INVEST. The prize honours outstanding investments by foreign companies in North Rhine-Westphalia as a business location. This year the award goes to the logistics service provider DPD Germany, the Indian IT group Infosys, the Dutch high-tech steel producer 247TailorSteel and Unicorn OrCam Technologies from Israel.
Minister Pinkwart: "In the international competition for business locations North Rhine-Westphalia has a strong position and profile, and we are continuing to promote this. Our aim is to ensure that the best companies in the world settle with their German or European headquarters in our federal state. Companies that develop innovative technologies will find the best framework conditions here. The four award winners are outstanding examples of this and we would like to use the NRW.INVEST AWARD to thank them for their commitment in these difficult times.
We are very pleased that the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has honoured our largest parcel sorting centre to date with such an important award."
Thomas Ohnhaus, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of DPD Germany
"We are very pleased that the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has honoured our largest parcel sorting centre to date with such an important award", said Thomas Ohnhaus, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of DPD Germany, who accepted the prize. "Thanks to its extensive capacities our new location in Hamm plays a decisive role in our nationwide parcel network. The depot is an important building block in managing our future volume growth".
"Today we are presenting the NRW.INVEST AWARD for the 16th time. Over the years we have honoured 47 companies from 19 different countries - this alone shows how convincingly North Rhine-Westphalia is positioning itself as a magnet for top-class investors from all over the world. After all, in addition to the wider market they also find a large pool of available skilled workers and a research environment with competent partners for the development of future-oriented technologies," added Petra Wassner.
Last year DPD Germany opened its largest parcel sorting centre in Germany in Hamm after only one and a half years of construction. In the final stage of development up to 200,000 parcels per day will be handled there with the help of a fully automatic sorting system. DPD Germany is expected to create 800 new jobs in Hamm. The company is also focusing on sustainability - from low-consumption machinery to climate-friendly heating and cooling of the buildings.
North Rhine-Westphalia is Germany's No. 1 investment location, with a total of 427 new businesses and expansion projects in 2019 confirming the consistently high level of foreign direct investment. Most investment projects last year were carried out in the Düsseldorf region, followed by the Ruhr conurbation and the Cologne/Bonn area.