DB Schenker is to double its workforce in Shannon to 100 with a planned €10m investment in its operations.
In 2006, the German logistics firm acquired BAX Global which had been based in Shannon since 1981. Now the company’s site in Clare is to grow to 85,000 square feet (sqft), it is planned to construct a 45,000 sqft high bay controlled warehouse and 15,000 sqft of offices.
CEO of DB Schenker in the UK and Ireland, Ray Hennessy confirmed their big development plans at Shannon Chamber’s President Lunch on Thursday. He told The Clare Echo that strong growth over the last two years was central to the decision from Head Office in the past month to further commit to the region, while he stated that they have grown year on year for the last nine years.
Currently fifty people are employed by DB Schenker in Shannon, this is set to double. “Some of the jobs will be warehousing based, many of them will be office based in process design, finance, account management, administration and operations, some third level opportunities, some warehousing and in some cases truck driving opportunities,” Hennessy said.
They are hopeful the new buildings will be ready for use by 2020. “We’ve got to start appointing project managers then doing building design, planning permission, selecting a construction company, that work has just started this week, we’ve had some internal meetings on that. Our goal is to have the new building open for business before the end of 2020”.
Ray has been in his current role for two years and the Clareman is proud that this announcement will staple DB Schenker’s future in the Mid West. “I was raised in Ennis and I’ve lived in Ennis all my life, my career has been based in the Mid-West region all that time. For me I’ve from this region, my family has grown up here and I’m really happy that this investment cements Schenker for generations to come because it’s an asset we own, not just leased and it’s a commitment to the Mid West region for the long term, it’s a very positive statement of confidence of us as a team”.
With over 320 employees in the country, DB Schenker in recent years upgraded their offices in Cork and Dublin, Ray is quite pleased to see Shannon is now following suit. “Two years ago we built a large facility in Cork about 80,000 square feet and in the last year we’ve also 100,000 square feet of extra space in Dublin. Our head office in Dublin has seen us grow throughout Ireland and in many ways, Shannon is catching up with the other two parts of the country which have shiny new buildings to show to our customers. Our business is very strong in Ireland, our customer base is some of the largest multinational companies in the country and we perform well within the organisation and that’s demonstrated by their confidence in giving us this latest sum of money to invest here”.
