DHL Express France will invest €100 million in an automated sorting centre at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, the group said this week. “We will invest in a new fully automated sorting centre at Charles de Gaulle to deal with the increase in our order volume,” said group CEO Michel Akavi.

The project, under discussion for two years, will allow the German logistics group to quadruple the size of its sorting centre, which will increase from 5,000 sqm to 20,000 sqm and is expected to be completed by 2019. The proposal still needs to be submitted to Aéroports de Paris (ADP) for approval.

“We recorded growth of 14-15 per cent per year for incoming and outgoing parcels and it’s been three years that we are at this rate, we do not have enough space when we have to deliver more and earlier and there is more and more congestion,” said Akavi according to AFP.

The group is also in discussions with Lyon airport for the creation of a sorting centre from 15,000 to 17,000 sqm which represents an investment €40 million, according to Akavi.