e-commerce giant Amazon considering new returned goods hall

The American e-commerce giant Amazon is aiming to build a new hall in Prague’s Horní Počernice which could be staffed by up to 3,000 employees. Around 1,000 of those, however, would be relocated from an already existing logistics centre in Dobrovíz. The hall would encompass a massive 40,000 square metres in the P3 industrial zone.

Photo: Czech Television

If all goes according to plan, Amazon will open a massive new hall in Horní Počernice in late 2016. On Monday, the Czech government agreed on the wording of a memorandum involving the e-commerce giant, the state and other relevant parties. Once built, the hall would serve as a warehouse for goods returned by customers from all over Europe. For the opening, Amazon is planning on relocating some 1,000 current employees and hiring up to 2,000 more workers over the next three years. The site of the planned hall is the P3 zone and the building would be built by P3 Logistics Parks.

The general director of the company confirmed the firm had construction permits for four halls but could adapt existing plans to meet Amazon’s needs fully. The vice president for Amazon Europe, Roy Perticucci, thanked politicians at local and national levels for paving the way for Amazon to expand its activities in the Czech Republic. The memorandum signed on Monday outlines that the centre would increase the traffic burden in the area by some 250 cars and 105 trucks daily during the main season, lasting three months. Maximum levels would be 340 cars and 165 transport trucks per day.

Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek said in an interview with public broadcaster Czech Television late on Monday that the government had been seeking to encourage Amazon to locate in the unemployment blackspot region of Ústí. That was not possible in the end, he said.

Mládek added that Amazon’s plans for Horní Počernice would require planning permits from Prague City Hall and, given that fact there is currently a power vacuum there with no coalition in control, which might prove problematic. If the Prague plans don’t work out, Amazon could instead seek to locate the new centre in Poland or Slovakia, he added.