Parcels carrier DPD is investing £10.2 million in six new depots around the UK as part of itsongoing two-year £175 million (€200 million) network expansion programme after seeing strong
double-digit growth last year.Under the £175 million investment programme, DPD will spend £100 million on a new nationalparcel hub at Hinckley in central England that will open next year, and £75 million on 15 newdepots this year.
The six new depots, which collectively are expected to create over 250 new jobs, comprisethree new state-of-the art, purpose built facilities in Dartford, Feltham and Reading, all close toLondon, to replace existing depots while the three depots at Lincoln, Liverpool and Radlett, northof London, are brand new locations.
At Dartford, DPD has invested £2.5m in a new purpose built, 36,000 sq ft depot to servicecustomers in South London and parts of Kent. Capacity will quadruple to 8,000 parcels a day toaccommodate 50 new routes and take volume from DPD’s depots in London Central, Croydon andMaidstone. When fully operational, the site will create 55 new jobs.
At Feltham, the new £2.5m purpose built depot expands DPD’s capacity to manage thesignificant increase in parcel volumes in South London and helps support its depots in Southall andCroydon. The new 36,000 sq ft site gives DPD drivers easy access to the national motorway networkvia the M25, M4 and M3 and replaces the company’s existing depot in Stanwell.
DPD will create up to 40 new jobs at its new £2.5m, 36,000 sq ft depot in Radlett, StAlbans, north of London, which is a brand new location for the company. When fully operational, upto 40 new jobs are expected to be created by the new-build facility. The location, close to the M1and M25, was chosen to help manage increasing parcel volumes in North London, especially inside theM25, and West London.
To increase capacity to the west of the M25, DPD has invested £2.5m in developing a new36,000 sq ft purpose built depot in Reading. The new depot replaces the company’s existing sitewhich was over 20 years old, and is expected to create up to 47 new jobs. The investment willexpand the coverage of the Reading depot with between 30 to 35 new routes created, reaching as faras Guildford, Henley, Maidenhead and Windsor.
In central England, DPD has invested £100,000 in developing a depot in Lincoln, a newlocation for the company. Up to 46 new jobs will be created at the new 27,500 sq ft facility whichwill take over a number of routes from DPD’s Sheffield, Nottingham and Peterborough depots toimprove the service out to the east coast as well as to some Doncaster, Grimsby and Retfordpostcodes.
In addition, DPD has increased its presence in the North West with the opening of a newLiverpool depot. The company has invested £100,000 in developing its first ever depot in the city –a 27,500 sq ft facility – to service 55 new routes in the region. In addition to the new routes,Liverpool will help support DPD’s existing depots in Warrington and Manchester which have seenincreased volumes in recent years. When fully operational, DPD expects the depot will create 65 newjobs.
The investment comes as DPD has grown dramatically in the UK in the last few years bygenerating strong B2C volume growth through innovative services such as the one-hour timeslotservice, Predict, and the Follow My Parcel real-time parcel tracking service.
In 2013, its revenues soared by 24 per cent to £492 million while the separate franchisebusiness Interlink Express grew by 12 per cent to £179 million, giving parent company GeoPost UKrevenues of £672 million and pre-tax profits of £90 million, according to a recent UK media reportconfirmed by the company.
Commenting on the 2013 results, CEO Dwain McDonald said: “I’m absolutely delighted with ourperformance. We’ve experienced strong growth for a number of years now, thanks to our uniqueproposition. Revenue is up 20 per cent again and we added over £70m worth of new business in 2013,largely down to our Predict service which means that customers know exactly when toexpect their delivery and don’t have to wait in all day.
“Our Follow My Parcel innovation was a further step-change last year and thereaction from customers has been phenomenal. From Twitter to Mumsnet there are people talking abouthow much they love watching their DPD driver on his round, making his way to their house. It’s madeparcel delivery more transparent for receivers, and it helps retailers see how DPD can add value totheir own offer,” he added.
Commenting on the investment plans, McDonald added: “It is a competitive market and we neverstand still. We are constantly investing back into our network to increase our capacity and improveefficiency. Earlier this year we announced our biggest ever depot expansion programme with 15new sites in 2014, while 2015 will see the opening of our fourth hub, which will be the largest ofits kind in Europe.”
DPD employs more than 7,000 people in the UK, operating more than 3,000 vehicles from over50 locations and delivering 1.6 million parcels per week.
