Hermes Fulfilment develops return logistics in Poland

Wave from the West

The share of German capital in the Polish market is growing. Currently, Germany is not only the main trading partner of our country, but also one of the key investors. According to the Central Economic Information Centre, more than 9,600 companies with German capital have already been registered in Poland. Looking at the map, there is a tendency to locate business closer to the western wall of the country – in the West Pomeranian, Lubuskie, Wielkopolskie, Dolnośląskie and Opolskie Voivodeships, approximately 43 per cent of the established companies operate.

The potential for the growing importance of economic relations and the proximity of the Polish-German border was also recognised by Hermes Fulfilment, which opened its first returns handling warehouse in the country in the first quarter of last year. The 40,000 sq m RTB facility is located within the CTPark Iłowa production and warehouse complex and complements the NEON logistics centre (owned by Hermes Fulfilment), which is under construction 800 metres away. Ultimately, both investments will create several thousand jobs.

Express delivery times

At the moment, returns for the e-commerce companies of the OTTO Group (owner of mail-order shops: Bonprix, Limango or AboutYou) are processed on the Lubusian CTP investment site – mainly for the German market. This dynamics of operations is possible thanks to the region’s logistical and transport advantages, including a well-developed network of motorways and expressways. The location of Hermes Fulfilment centres in Iłowa allows for next-day delivery to a significant part of eastern Germany.

“The RTB returns warehouse is part of a larger Hermes Fulfilment investment in Iłowa. The excellent location, providing good connections to the warehouses in the eastern part of Germany, which are important from our perspective, and positive discussions with the local administration confirmed that it was worth starting our flagship project in the southern part of the Lubuskie region. Our plans in Poland are long-term, we have established cooperation with the University of Zielona Góra, and we are also talking to local schools, seeing the great potential in the region,” says Joanna Komorowska, Managing Director and member of the Management Board of Hermes Fulfilment in Poland.

By 2028, the company aims to become one of Europe’s three largest providers of B2C fulfilment services (comprising storage, picking and shipping of orders to the end customer). The returns warehouse at CTPark Ilowa is the starting point for business development in Poland, which is the centre of Central Europe and guarantees the availability of modern production and warehouse space.

“The trend of relocating operations from Germany to Poland is geographically, economically and economically justified. Across our western border, there are increasing challenges for logistics service providers and retailers to find high-quality warehouse space. Meanwhile, our market is one of the fastest growing in Europe and offers numerous tax breaks for foreign investors. On top of that, it attracts qualified staff. All these factors create a stable business environment, and we want to develop it. In the western part of Poland, within the CTParks network, we have so far completed 20 per cent of all our local industrial and logistics complexes,” explains Bogi Gabrovic, Director of Client Relations & Corporate Affairs at CTP Poland.

CTP has also been working with German tenants for many years. Companies such as BayWa r.e., Fiege, PUKY or TRUMPF Huettinger, among others, have launched their operations at CTParks in Poland. Hermes Fulfilment has been developing return logistics in Ilowa for a year, but has already declared that it wants to stay in the region for decades to come, driving Lubuskie’s economic growth and creating more jobs. It is with the comfort of the company’s current and future employees in mind that the CTPark Iłowa building has been supplemented with social spaces and a canteen. The developer has also increased the lighting parameters of the rooms and thermal comfort.