UPS today confirmed plans to invest £120 million (€168 million) in a major new 32,000 sqm package facility near London to expand its UK network and speed up deliveries.
The company said it will construct a new 32,000 sqm package sorting and delivery facility at the DP World London Gateway logistics site in the south-east of England. At close to £120 million, the project constitutes one of UPS’s largest infrastructure investments outside of the United States in the company’s history.
“This construction reaffirms UPS’s commitment to the UK and our confidence in its economy,” said Luis Arriaga, managing director for UK, Ireland & Nordics. “It is part of our nearly $2 billion in infrastructure investments across Europe over the next five years. Through these investments, we will continue to do what UPS does best, which is to reliably and efficiently connect our customers of all sizes to destinations all over the world.”
DP World’s Chairman, H.E Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, said: “We congratulate UPS on this strategic development. By using DP World London Gateway Park and Port, UPS will have a fast ‘global conveyor-belt’ directly connected to their own worldwide network. UPS’s hub will also provide distribution solutions to other logistics park occupiers. This combination of world class services will be a unique offering for the UK and Europe.”
The facility, expected to be completed in the summer of 2017, will act as a UK hub and distribution centre for the local area as well as a key gateway to UPS’s global transportation network. Once completed, the facility will be able to process approximately 30,000 packages per hour, with room for further expansion.
UPS' main UK hub is currently located in Tamworth, in the Midlands (central England) where a new contract logistics facility was recently opened.
John Kent, Leader of Thurrock Council, said: “The fact that UPS is the latest international company to sign up at London Gateway here in Thurrock is yet another signal that this world class facility is exceptionally well-placed for the logistics industry in the south and east of the country.
“This is why Thurrock Council worked so closely with DP World at London Gateway to create the award-winning Local Development Order, enabling companies like UPS to have the certainty and a speedy resolution to their planning proposals. The latest confirmation of consent took just 17 days, one of the quickest consents granted for a development of this size and scale."
