Montpellier, France, March 29, 2012—FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, today announced the opening of a new station in Montpellier. This is the ninth station that FedEx Express has opened in France since October 2011 and offers businesses in Montpellier, as well as those in the surrounding Languedoc Roussillon region, access to 90 percent of the world’s GDP within two days as a result of the FedEx global express network.
The 4,000 square-meter Montpellier station is equipped with 1,600 square meters of solar panels that will produce approximately 92,000 kWh of electricity per year. Through solar power generation and the facility’s primary conveyor belt, which uses 16 times less electricity than a standard three-phase 380 volt belt, FedEx plans to reduce the carbon footprint of the station by 41.4 tons each year.
The Languedoc-Roussillon region has growing importance as a European trade hub, thanks in part to Montpellier’s central location in the Mediterranean belt between Spain and Italy, and its excellent domestic transportation links. With this new station, more than 170 international companies already located in the region can now benefit from greater connectivity to a diverse range of markets around the world.
“Montpellier holds an important trading position at the crossroads of Southern Europe,” said Dirk van Impe, managing director, Operations, FedEx Express France. “The new station in Montpellier reiterates our understanding of the substantial transportation needs this global business hub has. Our new center makes it easy for the more than 136,000 businesses located in the city to connect and trade with global markets in the shortest time possible.”
The station is connected through road and air networks to the FedEx European hub at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, which has been granted the highly-regarded ISO 14001:2004 certification for environmental management. The new facility is operating 13 FedEx vans, 16 have been hired, and has processed more than 1098 shipments during its first two days of operation alone.
With a wide range of transportation services on offer, local companies of all sizes seeking to expand their businesses in Europe and around the globe can benefit from improved shipping times. For example, a company needing a next-business-day delivery by 3pm to a city in the East Coast of the U.S. can tender their shipment as late as 6pm the day before.
Over the past months FedEx Express in France has opened 8 new stations in Angers, Beauvais-Creil, , Metz, Mulhouse, Nantes, Orléans, Rennes and Strasbourg. Customers in these regions have access to a wide range of FedEx Intra-European and Intercontinental express services, including next-business-day deliveries and economy services for less urgent shipments within two to five days. These services are available for documents and small parcels as well as heavy or bulky shipments of up to 1,000 kg.
To contact the FedEx station in Montpellier:
Customer services: 0820 123 800 (0,12€ TTC/min)
Address: 4 Impasse Louis Bréguet - Parc d’activités Marcel Dassault - 34430 Saint Jean de Védas
Customers can pick-up or drop-off their shipment at the station from Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.