Ocado to invest £100m in network and vehicles this year

Ocado plans to invest £100m in its hubs, depots and vehicles this year to increase capacity in its network.

The online grocery delivery firm hopes to be able to commit to a third customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in a, as yet, undisclosed location to provide enough capacity for growth in the future.

Since opening its Dordon, Warwickshire,  CFC in February last year, the operator has been moving orders from its first hub in Hertfordshire's Hatfield to the site.

Supermarket Morrisons has since taken half of the Dordon site as part of its deal with Ocado, which helped launch Morrisons’ online food offering.

The operator has now begun the second phase of development at Dordon, taking capacity to 190,000 orders per week up from the current capacity of 180,000.

Ocado said it processed an average of over 143,000 orders per week during 2013, up from 123,000 the year before.

The firm also unveiled plans to open more regional sites next year with Morrisons, with both parties sharing costs and capacity.

Speaking at the company's financial results presentation this week, Ocado CEO Tim Steiner said: “The successful opening of our new CFC during the year provides us with the capacity to continue to grow and we are well placed to take advantage of significant change in our industry.”

Morrisons began delivering online orders out of Ocado’s Dordon site last month.