Since 2019, Swiss Post has put eight new regional parcel centers into operation. In the coming years, it plans to focus on modernizing its largest and oldest sorting centers – and also explore further synergies with existing logistics centers.
The national parcel centers in Härkingen, Frauenfeld, and Daillens are now 25 years old. The Härkingen parcel center is scheduled to be shut down and completely renovated for approximately 2.5 years, starting no earlier than 2027. Currently, more than 300,000 parcels a day move along the conveyor belts and through the sorting machines in Härkingen. During the renovation, the postal service will have to temporarily sort these parcels at other locations.
J. Cramer
Johannes Cramer, Head of Logistics Services and member of the Swiss Post's Executive Board: "We have created additional capacity with regional parcel centers such as Buchs and Pratteln, and with the parcel sorting machine at the Härkingen mail center. Even during the shutdown of the Härkingen parcel center, we will be able to process all parcels on time." Customers are expected to notice little to no disruption. According to current plans, Swiss Post intends to begin the modernization work at the two other national parcel centers in Frauenfeld and Daillens only after the work in Härkingen is completed.
“In the coming years, we also want to examine more closely whether and how we can utilize mail sorting centers for our logistics. We also have to take into account the annual decline in mail volume of around 5 percent,” says Johannes Cramer, Head of Logistics Services at Swiss Post. Swiss Post has already demonstrated several times that its logistics centers can be multifunctional. For example, at the Zurich-Mülligen mail center, employees have been sorting small parcels on a state-of-the-art system since 2020.
Photos: Swiss Post
Since parcel volumes have stabilized over the past two years, Swiss Post has decided not to build any further regional parcel centers for the time being and has postponed their planning. New locations in Egerkingen and Volketswil had been considered. They are also holding off on an additional regional parcel center in Frauenfeld. "With this decision, we ensure that we have precisely the capacity we actually need. We don't plan our infrastructure rigidly, but rather respond to market changes in the short and medium term. This ensures stable jobs," said Cramer.
The postal service allocates approximately 80 percent of its total investments to internal processes and infrastructure. Regarding sorting centers, it wants to keep its options open in order to respond to new customer requirements in the short and medium term.
