Yodel invests in three new ‘super’ service centres

Yodel has announced its investment in three new, strategically positioned, permanent ‘super’ service centres in Livingston, Waltham Cross and Southwark. The company says that this will help boost its capability to deliver up to 4.9m parcels per week in the run up to Christmas.

Over the past year, Yodel has already opened larger service centres in Northampton, Selby, Farnborough and Alfreton.

In total, the seven new sites have boosted Yodel’s final mile capacity by 22%, which the company says will reduce the need for additional temporary sites during the seasonal Christmas peak.

The Livingston and Southwark sites opened in October and Waltham Cross began operating on 6 November.

The new locations were chosen for their proximity to major motorways and town centres. They will streamline Yodel’s trunking from its central sorts and provide good access to regional towns.

Dick Stead, executive chairman of Yodel, said: “These recent investments form part of our structured plan to increase not only capacity, but also the quality of Yodel’s service centre infrastructure.”

Yodel’s chief operating officer, Keith Basnett, added: “More locations are being investigated to further optimise our network and we expect to open more centres in 2016.”

Yodel’s network of over 50 regional service centres receives trailers of parcels from Yodel’s three central sorts in Shaw, Wednesbury and Hatfield. Parcels are then processed and sent out for onward delivery.

In addition to its permanent facilities, Yodel has opened two temporary sites for the Christmas peak season, at Preston and Brighton, and established temporary extensions to over 18 service centres to enable it to cope with the increase in parcel volumes in the coming weeks.