The American company said on Monday the centre was needed to service strong sales demand in the country.

The facility is set to open in the second half of 2013 at Lauwin-Planque, close to the Belgian border in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.

It joins other distribution centres at Saran (Loiret), which opened in 2007, at Montélimar (Drôme), opened in 2010, and  at Sevrey (Saône and Loire), which was inaugurated in September.

The three current centres each employ 1,400 people.

The new logistics centre in Lauwin-Planque will have a floor space of 90,000 square metres, Amazon said.

At periods of peak activity it will employ up to 2,500 people, some permanent, others part-time, by 2015, the company said.

The centre is designed to fill the orders of customers more efficiently in the north of France but also in other parts of Europe, Amazon said.

The company’s announcement confirmed news reports that emerged on Thursday last week.

Le Figaro reported that Amazon’s difficulties with the French tax collection service, which is reportedly claiming 252 million in back payments from the company, did not affect the roll-out of the new depot.

The new centre is to be developed by the Goodman real-estate company.