With the recent completion of the third phase of the Tchibo distribution centre in Panattoni Park Cheb, adding approximately 30,000 sqm, the hall, totalling over 100,000 sqm, has become the largest industrial building completed this year in the Czech Republic. Panattoni as a developer completed the project together with investment group Accolade. Since the first phase of construction in 2016, the tenant has been Tchibo, one of the world's most important coffee producers and consumer goods retailers. The new part of the site aspires to a high BREEAM New Construction environmental certification rating of "Excellent".
The value of the investment after the expansion will reach almost €30 million, the leasable area of all phases will exceed 100,000 sqm and the warehouse will offer 57,000 pallet spaces and 60,000 spaces for cardboard boxes. Until now, it has served exclusively as a B2C centre for the e-shop of Tchibo, but after its expansion and the addition of new technologies next year, it will be also used for the return part of B2B logistics processes relating to Tchibo stores and depots. Like Accolade and Panattoni, Tchibo is committed to business sustainability. In addition to certifying the buildings at a high level of sustainability, the company has changed the way it transports goods to Cheb, using full trains with containers instead of trucks arriving close to the German-Czech border, and using trucks to transport containers only the last kilometres.
“I am delighted that this important milestone fell on the thirtieth anniversary of Tchibo in the Czech Republic. The expansion of the distribution centre shows our clear commitment to Cheb and to the Czech Republic, as a fundamental building block of our European logistics strategy. We see the industrial park in Cheb as a highly functional logistics centre and a great starting point for the distribution of our products. It works perfectly for all countries involved in e-commerce and constantly confirms its importance,” says Richard Hodul, General Manager, Tchibo, Prague.
"We are delighted to have been able to contribute to the anniversary celebrations of Tchibo in this way. We are very proud of the industrial park in Cheb. Our goal is to contribute to the growth of the Karlovy Vary region and, thanks to the competition on the labour market and the related wage growth, to make it step by step the Czech Bavaria," adds Milan Kratina, CEO of the Accolade Group.
"When we entered Cheb in the middle of the last decade with the vision of a new industrial zone, we were condescendingly complimented for our courage in trying to reach the western market with a different region than Pilsen. Tchibo was one of the first tenants and, to be honest, it was quite difficult to convince its representatives to go for this location. In the end, however, it turned out to be the right decision and the Karlovy Vary Region can act as a full-fledged second gateway to Germany alongside the Pilsen Region. The Czech Republic has always been the business crossroads of Europe. I am glad that, thanks to Tchibo, this is beginning to be true again. Thanks also go to the town of Cheb for its long-term support,” says Pavel Sovička, Panattoni's General Manager for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
