The online trade giant Amazon plans to build a logistics center in the small town of Könnern in the Salzland district. “The settlement would be a large investment in the lower three-digit million range,” said Amazon spokesman Thorsten Schwindhammer. Amazon is currently in discussions with the city, the district and a project developer to acquire the property.
More than 1,000 new jobs planned
With the new location, the company wants to promote the economic development of the region and create jobs. According to Amazon, more than 1,000 jobs are to be created in the first year of operation – this number could even double in the long term.
“Logistics centers are the largest Amazon building units in logistics,” said Schwindhammer. A so -called “inbound CrossDock” (IXD) with a base area of 52,000 square meters is to be created in Könern – this corresponds to about seven soccer fields. There, goods and sales partners are delivered there by suppliers and sales partners: bundled in the inside, bundled and distributed to Amazon’s logistics centers in Germany and Europe. The location would be comparable to the existing centers in Dortmund and Helmstedt.
Ideal transport connection as a location advantage
“Könnern brings an excellent location for a redistribution center from which we were further distributed to our logistics centers,” emphasized Schwindhammer. Above all, the direct connection to Autobahn 14 and the proximity to the logistics centers in Erfurt, Gera, Hof-Gattendorf, Leipzig and Sülzetal makes the location particularly attractive.
Amazon claims to operate more than 100 locations in Germany, the majority of them are logistics centers. There are currently three in Saxony-Anhalt: a logistics center in Sülzetal, a distribution center in Magdeburg and a sorting center in Halle. The company employs a total of around 2,200 employees in the region.