We round up the latest news on the action delivery specialists from DPD and Yodel to Metapack are taking to improve the sustainability of their ecommerce parcel delivery operations.
DPD: bringing forward its all-electric targets
DPD says it is now running all-electric vehicle fleets in 10 UK towns and cities, putting it on the way to having 30 by the end of 2023, five years earlier than expected. Its all-electric delivery locations incur Bristol, Bradford, Hull, Oxford, Southampton and Stoke, and it is on the way to completing the task in 15 more areas, including London, Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.
So far it has spent more than £90m on all-electric vehicles, most recently ordering 1,000 Ford E-Transit vans in May 2022. When they arrive it will the more than 2,500 electric vehicles in total – and has not bought a diesel van since the summer of 2020. It expects to deliver 26m parcels this year using electric vehicles, which it says will save 7.2m kg of carbon dioxide.
DPD UK chief executive Elaine Kerr says: “One of our big aims is to be the UK’s most sustainable delivery company and by the end of 2023, we will have over 5,000 EVs on the road and 30 urban centres delivered on all-electric vehicles.
“Since opening the UK’s first all-electric parcel depot in Westminster in 2018, we have grown our electric fleet year on year, despite some of the issues that have held us back, such as the lack of righthand drive EVs for the UK market. We are now seeing improved availability of larger electric vans, which is what we need. As a result, it is fantastic to be able to extend our original pledge to 30 locations and two years earlier than planned.”
Yodel: delivering by bike
Yodel says it has delivered almost half a million parcels by bike in the last six months. In the whole of last year it delivered 290,000, but in the first half of this year it delivered 492,000. Now its next target is to deliver more than 750,000 parcels using Urb-it’s e-cargo bike fleet by the end of its current financial year in July.
Yodel and Urb-it have run a successful trial out of local microhubs in London, followed by launches in Glasgow, Bristol and Manchester. They now plan to launch in other UK cities, such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Edinburgh.
Yodel says this is its fifth consecutive year of reducing its carbon footprint in partnership with Urb-it and , and so far it has reduced its CO2 per parcel by nearly 40%.
Mike Hancox, chief executive of Yodel, says: “We are delighted to announce an expansion with our cycle courier partner, Urb-it, to deliver the last mile sustainably across more UK cities, supporting the UK’s Clean Air Zones in our last mile deliveries and the UK Government’s Net Zero strategy.
“We take our environmental responsibility very seriously and a proactive approach to reducing the carbon footprint of our operations forms a key aspect of our decision making. We’re extremely proud of what we have achieved with meeting key targets in our drive to deliver a more sustainable service for the future. In the last year we have come a long way to laying strong foundations to continue building on as we look to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035.”
Yodel is currently recruiting cargo bike riders at its Central London Depot in Bermondsey.
Metapack: working with sustainable delivery specialist Homerr
Retailers using delivery management platform Metapack can now offer the choice of sustainable parcel fulfilment to customers in The Netherlands and Belgium via Homerr. The service enables shoppers to collect their parcels at ‘social points’ such as local neighbours, shops and delivery hubs. It boasts saving up to 79% of CO2 emissions per parcel because it uses existing parcel delivery routes.
So far the service is available at 2,000 locations in the two countries and there are plans to add more.
“In today’s retail climate, it’s imperative that retailers are able to offer their consumers with sustainable delivery options,” says David Randall, director of sustainability at Metapack. “We’re delighted to have Homerr’s innovative social and sustainable solution join our platform. Working together across The Netherlands and Belgium, we’ll be able to not only make it easier for our retailers to fulfil the growing consumer appetite for greener deliveries but also provide them with a flexible and convenient method of receiving deliveries that can be tailored to individual lifestyles.”
Juriaan Matthijssen, founder and managing director at Homerr, says: “Sustainability has become a powerful value proposition to increasingly conscious consumers. Our goal is to make sustainability as customer friendly as possible, and to make consumers more aware of their online purchases.”
