DPD is to invest £175m in a new parcel hub and 10 regional depots as demand from ecommerce businesses rises. The parcel business says it will create 1,500 jobs as a result of what it terms an ‘online retail boom’.
DPD today said it would spend £100m on the largest parcel sorting hub in Europe, build 10 new depots and refurbish existing sites. Money will also be spent on upgrading other depots and investing in IT.
The investment follows uptake of its one-hour delivery service Predict by online retailers. Contracts worth £70m have been signed for the service since it was launched in March 2010 and 1,000 jobs have been created. DPD says that more than 97% of parcels are now delivered ‘right first time’ using the service.
Dwain McDonald, DPD chief executive, said: “I’m delighted to announce this very significant investment in new jobs and infrastructure. DPD has been expanding year on year and is now the fastest growing major carrier in the UK. This investment will allow us to expand our network capacity further to meet the demands from our customers and maintain our very high service standards.
“The online retail market is expanding rapidly with consumers now prepared to buy a much wider range of goods online.”
DPD says that its £100m parcel sorting hub, destined for the East Midlands, will be one of the largest of its kind in Europe. It will also spend £20m on refurbishing two hubs to handle more parcels at night and £20m on upgrading existing depots and building 10 new ones over the next 15 months. Also included in the investment budget are improvements to IT infrastructure, such as new handheld devices for drivers to improve route finding and parcel administration.
DPD is a member of one of the GeoPost group, owned by France’s La Poste, itself the second largest postal group in Europe. In the UK it employs 6,700 people, operates more than 3,000 vehicles from over 40 locations and delivers 1.6 million parcels a week.
