Amazon Courts Maersk for Fulfillment in France
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Even Amazon needs warehouse assistance from other global logistics players from time to time.
Maersk is reportedly providing the e-commerce giant with fulfillment services at a 1 million-square-foot warehouse in Denain, France, according to French newspaper La Voix du Nord. Most known for its ocean freight capabilities, Maersk is renting the building from industrial real estate developer GLP.
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Sourcing Journal reached out to Amazon and Maersk.
A spokesperson for Maersk told supply chain publication The Loadstar that Maersk would occupy 75 percent of the facility, but did not confirm Amazon was the customer. Maersk plans to employ 430 workers at the site during the peak holiday season and 240 during off-peak periods, that report said.
French news outlet France Bleu noted that Amazon doesn’t own the facility, but reported that a company rep said, “Like other companies in the logistics sector, Amazon regularly works with third-party companies to complement its own sites.”
In Douai, France, Amazon also rents a 750,000-square-foot warehouse that employs 500 staff members. That building is owned by ID Logistics. Maersk itself doesn’t have an owned warehouse in France, but has more than 30 warehouses throughout Europe.
Amazon has made a significant investment into its operations in France in 2024, unveiling in May it would pour 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) into the country to create more than 3,000 permanent jobs.
As of that announcement, Amazon already operated more than 35 of its own logistics facilities in the country. The new investment would support further expansion of the company’s logistics infrastructure to cut the time and distance necessary to serve customers, all while increasing delivery speeds.
At home in the U.S., Amazon recently gave warehouse workers a long-sought pay bump to an average of $22 per hour, up from the prior hourly $20.50. All warehouse staff will get free access to Prime as part of the benefit.
For Maersk, the company has expanded beyond its ocean carrier roots in recent years to build out a more substantial logistics offering. The firm doubled its North American warehousing and distribution capacity in February 2020 when it acquired Performance Team for $545 million, and extended the warehousing and fulfillment ambitions further into the Far East when it acquired Hong Kong-based contract logistics company LF Logistics for $3.6 billion.