The air base closed in 2012 as part of a military restructuring plan introduced by former French president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008. Grosdidier, elected last year, on Wednesday lifted the veil on “the most important operation in the Metz employment area since the creation of PSA in Trémery more than 40 years ago, to compensate for the closure of the Hagondange steel plant.”
Amazon has promised to recruit 1,000 people on permanent contracts within three years. Recruitment has started so that the site can begin operating at the end of the summer "with a few hundred people," said Angéline Bilodeau, site manager for the US e-commerce giant.
A boon for the site, but also for the region, which has 40,000 people active in the field of logistics, ideally located at the crossroads of the A31 and A4 motorways. The Moselle can also accommodate barges, plus there’s the rail service, since Woippy is the first marshalling yard in France.
"It is an immense joy and a signal to other logisticians," explained Grosdidier, "which does not preclude the short circuits that we also support." More than 750 local businesses have already seized the opportunity to sell through Amazon, as harbingers of digitalisation which has progressed steadily since the start of the pandemic.
€78bn investment over ten years
Even the mayor of the small town of Augny, François Henrion, was confident that the trucks would spare the life of his quiet village. According to forecasts, 400 trucks will join the motorway or Metz every day during peak periods, and 200 to 250 during normal times. Every day and every night, "because most orders on Amazon take place between 5pm and 10pm, and you have to go directly to deliver before midnight" so that customers have their purchases at home as soon as possible.
The annual report of Amazon EU, which is located in Luxembourg and manages all developments in Europe, reveals that sales increased by 39% last year. Asked about the total absence of corporate taxes in the group, Amazon's EMEA director Stefano Perego, also in Metz for the press conference, referred to the level of investment. “We have invested €78bn over the past ten years in Europe. As far as I know, we pay our taxes whenever it is necessary. We have 130,000 people on permanent contracts, for whom we pay charges and who pay their taxes themselves."
The number of permanent contracts could increase, depending on the needs of the site. In Brétigny-sur-Orge, in Île-de-France, a site similar to that of Metz, 2,000 permanent contracts were recruited in less than two years, said Amazon France Logistics director Ronan Bole.
Amazon doesn't only represent direct jobs either, as the speakers noted. The 11,500 permanent contracts in France employ 130,000 people in total, in the construction of sites, delivery, transport or maintenance and security. Not to mention temporary workers for peak periods, especially the holiday season.
This article was originally published in French on Paperjam and has been translated and edited for Delano.