DPD vehicle at depot

DPD is expanding a number of its sites and investing in a new sorting hub and depots to handle increased demand from online retailers.

The £175m investment, which follows a period of growth after the launch of its Predict service, includes a £12m investment in building 10 new depots, £20m of funding to upgrade its Sheffield and Thetford depots, as well as opening a  £100m East Midlands sorting hub. The expansion is expected to create 1,500 full-time jobs.

A spokesman revealed potential locations for five of the planned new sites, which the firm hopes to open within the next 15 months, including Taunton in Somerset, Rushden in Northamptonshire, Teesside, Feltham in Middlesex and a second Birmingham depot.

DPD is also looking at sites in the Leicester and Rugby area for its planned new sorting hub and also hopes to increase capacity at its existing Edinburgh site by building a satellite depot.

Chief executive Dwain McDonald said: “I’m delighted to announce this very significant investment in new jobs and infrastructure. DPD has been expanding year-on-year and is now the fastest growing major carrier in the UK.”

The firm revealed it won £70m of new business since the launch of Predict in March 2010, but was unavailable to comment on which contracts it had won.

The parcel carrier also plans to invest in IT, hoping to replace all of the handheld devices its drivers use for parcel administration.

Last week Parcelforce revealed its plans to invest £75m in its network over the next four years, creating 1,000 new jobs.

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