Hermes UK has announced plans to double the number of its hubs, open or expand six depots and ishiring 2,000 additional lifestyle couriers as it expects parcel volumes to increase by 15% by the
end of the year.With this investment in its operational infrastructure, the company aims to provide the capacityneeded to collect and deliver more than 187 million parcels this year.
Two new hubs in Tamworth (West Midlands) and Bradford (West Yorkshire) will complement twoexisting sites while the purpose-built replacement for the company’s hub in Warrington (Cheshire)is due to become fully operational during 2014.
The Tamworth hub has 31, 000 sqm of warehouse and office space with 47 dock-level loading doors.It will operate two automated parcel sorters with a sorting capacity of 300,000 parcels perday.
The temporary Bradford hub will provide additional resources during the forthcoming peak period.The 4,645 sqm facility will include a machine sorter with the capacity to process 60,000 parcelsdaily.
In addition, new depots will be opened in Bridgwater (south-western England), Enfield (Londonarea) and Liverpool (north-western England), Weybridge (South-East England) and Perth(Scotland).
Earlier this year, Hermes opened a new £6-million call centre in Leeds (West Yorkshire) as partof an expansion to its head office. It will employ around 200 staff to provide additional customerservice support for deliveries and better meet the needs of retail clients.
The company is also expanding its network of lifestyle couriers from 7,500 to 9,500 providinglast-mile delivery six-day a-week.
Gary Winter, Sales & Marketing Director of Hermes UK, explained: “We are never standingstill, so we are always looking and planning ahead to ensure we have the necessary infrastructureand resources in place to meet the precise demands of our retail customers during peak 2013 andpossess the necessary buffer within our network to effectively handle any unexpected surges involumes during busy periods.”
