Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has announced plans to close five production and logistics facilities in Germany over the next year, as part of a broader restructuring aimed at improving efficiency and adapting to changes in the beverage logistics market. The closures will result in the loss of 505 jobs, with some employees being relocated or reassigned to other sites.
The affected locations include Cologne, where both production and logistics operations are based, as well as logistics centers in Neumünster, Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, Bielefeld, and Memmingen. These closures follow a growing shift among Coca-Cola’s retail partners toward centralized warehouse delivery systems and the increasing use of wholesalers by smaller customers.
One of the major closures will affect the Cologne production site, where operations are set to cease on March 31, 2025. The Cologne facility, which has only two production lines, is the smallest of four Coca-Cola production sites within a 150 km radius. Due to the high density of Coca-Cola plants in this region, the company has determined that the Cologne site lacks opportunities for expansion or growth. This has made its closure necessary to optimize the capacity and efficiency of larger facilities in the area, such as Bad Neuenahr, Dorsten, and Mönchengladbach.
The closure of the plant had already been anticipated, as a EUR 15 million multi-use production line was recently installed at the Bad Neuenahr facility, located about 50 minutes from Cologne, and preparations are underway for a Bag-In-Box facility at the Dorsten site.
Around 600 employees currently work at the Cologne site, with 289 jobs affected by the closure. The company plans to relocate some staff to other facilities as part of the restructuring process.
The logistics sites in Neumünster, Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, and Bielefeld will be closed by March 31, 2025, and the operation of the cross-dock in Memmingen will cease by December 31, 2025.
The closure of logistics centers will lead to an additional 179 job cuts. However, Coca-Cola will also create 78 new positions and relocate 207 employees to other sites within Germany to minimize the impact of the closures.
Tilmann Rothhammer, a CCEP official, acknowledged the difficult nature of the changes, particularly for employees, but emphasized that the closures are necessary to enhance the company’s cost-efficiency and respond to the evolving logistics environment. He also stressed the company's commitment to implementing the changes in a socially responsible and transparent manner.
This announcement follows similar closures by Coca-Cola in Germany in 2020 and 2022, as the company continues to adapt to market conditions.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners employs around 6,500 people in Germany, operating across 27 sites, including 14 production plants.
