Hermes to increase capacity by 45% with new Rugby super hub

Work has started on Hermes’s new £31m super hub in Rugby, which will increase the company's capacity by almost a quarter.

The automated distribution facility, which will be able to process up to 1.1 million parcels a day, is the parcel carrier’s largest investment to date. It will up the business’s overall parcel capacity by an estimated 45%.

The 270,000ft² facility will create 200 new jobs in the area.

The new build follows the £10m Hermes spent on upgrading its Warrington hub last year.

Hermes chief executive Carole Woodhead, who broke ground on the site with chief operating officer Martijn de Lange, said: “As work begins at our new facility in Rugby, we are embarking on an exciting new chapter in the history of Hermes that will ensure we can continue to provide retailers with world class services and solutions.

“The hub’s enormous throughput capability and built in flexibility will help to future proof our business whilst also ensuring we are in the very best position to grow alongside our clients.”

Woodhead recently told MotorTransport.co.uk that parcel companies are taking a hit to their profit because of the ever-increasing need for large peak-time capacity.

“We're having to build hubs and depot capacity and final mail delivery capacity to handle seasonal spikes, which then sit unused for eleven months of the year, and that is having an adverse affect potentially on carrier profitability,” she said.

The new hub is expected to open in August 2017.