DHL has announced investment of £482 million in its UK commerce operation, DHL Parcel UK, to handle future growth following a 40% volume uplift since 2020.
Nearly half of the investment will be in a brand new 25,000 sq m hub in Segro Park Coventry Gateway, located south of Coventry Airport. The new hub will have the capacity to handle more than 500,000 items per day and is expected to create over 600 new jobs including warehouse, driver, administration and management positions.
It will also feature secure bonded storage and customs capabilities to support international e-commerce, a 48-door cross-dock facility and state-of-the-art mechanisation, allowing automatic sortation of mixed-sized and weight items through high-speed sortation equipment.
The company will also invest an initial £64 million in upgrading the company’s fleet, with a major focus on alternative fuel vehicles. The fleet investment includes 6 fully electric 18tn trucks, 30 Liquified Natural Gas (bio-LNG) trucks, and 18 electric tugs. This roll-out will be followed by further sustainable fleet investment going forward.
DHL will also invest more than £190m to create 10 brand new collection and delivery depots across the UK with a further 20 existing sites expanded and creating an additional 3,500 jobs in total. The new site locations have been strategically chosen to reduce the distance required to serve customers, enabling the further roll-out of electric vans and improving the speed of service.
Peter Fuller, CEO of DHL Parcel UK, said: “E-commerce is going to continue to shape the world around us. This investment, along with the strength of the DHL brand and our leading approach to digitalisation and sustainability will put us in a strong position to take advantage of market growth.”
