Yodel invests now for next Christmas peak
The parcel carrier has invested in a new service centre, providing additional capacity throughout the year, including the peak Christmas period.
Fully operational by the end of July 2015, the site in Alfreton, Derbyshire will be able to handle 34,000 parcels per day, allowing for business and volume growth in the Midlands region.
Three other service centres have come on stream in the last 12 months, and Yodel plans to open further sites this year.
The carrier has opened new larger service centres in Northampton, Selby and Farnborough. As a result of these investments, Yodel has created over 160 new jobs at the service centres for drivers, sorters, administrators and support workers.
Yodel’s new service centre strategy is designed to lessen the requirement for temporary additional satellite sites during peak times, such as Christmas, when parcel volumes increase dramatically.
Selby and Farnborough became operational in October 2014. The Selby site, located just off the Selby bypass, includes a 66,000 sq ft distribution facility. The centre currently handles 10,500 parcels per day and undergoing investment to raise its capacity to 22,000 parcels per day.
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The new service centre at Farnborough, which supports deliveries into Yodel’s South East network, is anticipated to deliver over 22,000 parcels a day in the run up to Christmas.
The Northampton service centre, which opened in September 2014, currently processes an average of 16,000 parcels daily and has capacity to handle up to 35,000 parcels per day.
The multi million pound major investment programme extends across Yodel’s service and sort centre network including significant upgrades to IT and mechanical handling equipment.
Dick Stead, executive chairman of Yodel, said: “These recent investments form part of a phased plan to increase the capacity and quality of Yodel’s service centre infrastructure, evidence of our long term aims within the UK parcel market. The developments demonstrate the on-going commitment of our Shareholders and are a vote of confidence for the team here who continuously strive to deliver a high quality service to our clients and their customers.”
Yodel’s network of service centres receives trailers of parcels from Yodel’s three central sorts, strategically sited at Shaw, Wednesbury and Hatfield. Parcels are then processed and sent out for delivery.
