The Fricke Group, one of Germany’s largest private corporate groups for agricultural engineering, began manual shipping from their new logistics centre on 12 January – two months earlier than originally planned. The first packages are heading to customers in Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse.
The new logistics centre in the municipality of Tholey is one of the corporate group’s largest logistics projects, with investment amounting to around 160 million euros. In the future, this site on the ‘BAB 1 – Am Schaumberg’ industrial park plans to supply around 10,000 customers of subsidiary Granit Parts. It will focus on southern Germany as well as numerous European markets, including France, Benelux, Austria, Switzerland, northern Italy, Spain and Portugal. Granit Parts is one of seven divisions of the Fricke Group (founded in 1923) and specialises in spare parts for agricultural machinery.
The large-scale project was completed in two construction phases. The foundations were laid in July 2024 and the building was completed in the summer of 2025. Around 29,000 m2 of storage space will initially be available, with 80,000 to 90,000 m2 planned upon completion of the final expansion. Up to 600 jobs will ultimately be created in Tholey, 200 of which will be during the first expansion stage.
Goods were first delivered to the site in September and it now holds more than 2,000 types of item. Manual shipping marks the start of the run-up. Operations will be gradually expanded over the coming weeks until automated shipping begins in March. Up to 5,000 shipments are planned per day in the initial phase of regular operation.
The Fricke Group now has 107 sites across 28 countries and employees around 4,100 staff, including more than 300 apprentices.
The establishment of the logistics centre provides a vital economic boost to a rural area and will strengthen both Tholey and the region as a whole for the long term.
The >> gwSaar Saarland Economic Promotion Corporation, an SHS subsidiary, served as implementation partner for this site investment.
Further information and a statement from the FRICKE Group’s CEO Hans-Peter Fricke can be found >> here:
