Cargo-partner set for early expansion of Ljubljana facility

Logistics firm cargo-partner is pushing forward the expansion of its logistics facility close to Slovenia’s Ljubljana Airport after it reached capacity faster than expected.

The company opened its iLogistics Center two years ago, but the expansion of the facility, originally scheduled for 2024-2026, will now take place next year.

The project will bring the total area of the facility to 39,000 sq m, offering an additional 14,100 sq m of storage space on three floors.

A wide- and narrow-aisle racking system will provide an additional 9,000 pallet slots and will be equipped with semi-automated high-rack storage technology.

In addition to cross-dock, short-term and long-term storage areas, the new facility will also have a drone runway which can be used for parcel deliveries.

“Part of the facility will be dedicated to e-commerce services with a ‘drive-in pick-up point for personal collection or return of parcels, available to the inhabitants of the northwestern region of Slovenia,” the company said.

The conceptual design was completed in March, and the procedures for obtaining the necessary approvals and preparing the construction project are currently underway.

Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2022 and the official opening is planned for fall 2022.

Viktor Kastelic, managing director of cargo-partner in Slovenia, said: “We expected that it would take more than two years to fill up the capacity, so we were delighted that the warehouse was almost full after one year.

“The rapid growth of our business, the needs of our customers and the success of our operations in the existing facility have led us to begin planning the expansion, which was originally scheduled for the period 2024-2026, immediately.”