Hub Kelsterbach: Value-added warehouse services

Demand for value-added services for warehouse goods "has been picking up again", Klaus Stein has been noticing for around two months. The Team Leader Warehouse Logistics at a. hartrodt (DE) Solutions in Kelsterbach near Frankfurt is busy with sorting, repacking, labeling and palletizing: "We deliver the complete package." Less than 15 kilometers from Frankfurt Airport, a. hartrodt operates its own 900-square-meter warehouse. Stein explains: "Customers use our hub to consolidate their imports and exports by air and sea freight. With us, they get everything from a one-stop shop."

Shelf- and block storage plus climatized area

Short- and long-term storage is available in Kelsterbach. On 600 square meters there is a bay warehouse with 125 spaces for pallets up to 350 kilograms plus block storage with about 100 spaces for pallets up to 850 kilograms. In addition, there is a separate 300-square-meter climatized area with small items storage. "Here we can store several thousand different items separately," explains Stein.

Consolidation for importers in Germany and overseas

"We palletize sock yarn that has arrived by container from Japanese manufacturers," says Stein, citing one example. The consolidated imported goods from overseas are distributed by truck within Germany, to Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy or France. "This works both ways," he highlights. Vice versa, a. hartrodt exports consolidated shipments from Germany and Europe for importers overseas. "Via Frankfurt Airport, we guarantee fast handling, including packing and documentation," says Stein. As a regulated agent, the warehouse can handle transhipments within a secure supply chain.

Before Stein moved to Kelsterbach in January 2018, he had worked in Malaysia for almost three decades, including eleven years with a. hartrodt. Although he has become accustomed to the "thousand rules" in Germany, he would like to return to Southeast Asia with his family in the long term.