GoAsset Development officially opened on Friday in the Hoče industrial zone a new logistics centre, part of which has already been leased to Slovenian postal company Pošta Slovenije. Worth more than EUR 20 million, the new centre is expected to employ around 70 people once it starts operating at full capacity.

Built by the Austrian logistics real estate investor and developer this year, the Hoče-Maribor Logistics Centre spans on five hectares, offering business customers over 30,000 m2 of storage space.

Michal Buban, who runs the company's investments in Slovenia, told the press on the occasion that a third of the logistics centre was already being used by business partners and that Pošta Slovenije would now also take over part of the premises.

The national postal operator will use the centre to process and distribute large bulk shipments that could not be handled with standard parcel handling systems.

Klemen Bončina, the director of technology and logistics at Pošta Slovenije, said that this was in line with the strategy to consolidate the existing premises within the group, meaning also its subsidiary Intereuropa, a logistics company.

"The goal is to establish a joint logistics network at the group level and increase storage capacity due to the growth in demand for distribution of large parcel shipments," he added.

Bončina noted that the new centre is connected with major industrial centres in Central and SE Europe, which made the location attractive for possible expansion and other business partners.

"In Maribor, Slovenia has an excellent position at the crossroads of corridors," he said, adding that the country had an excellent opportunity to further develop logistics and other related services.

Hoče Mayor Marko Soršak welcomed the new foreign direct investment in the municipality, noting that the local authorities were trying to attract new investments and were developing infrastructure in industrial zones for this purpose.

He noted that a new road would be built in the industrial zone with support from a call of applications for innovative ecosystems of economic and business infrastructure by the Economy Ministry.

The ministry's State Secretary Matevž Frangež said the state would allocate EUR 1.3 million for the road valued at EUR 3 million and expected to be built next year.

Based in Vienna, GoAsset Development has been active in Austria and in Central and Eastern Europe since 2006, entering the Slovenian market in 2018. It has also built the Adria Logistics Centre in Sežana, western Slovenia.

Source: www.sloveniabusiness.eu