Palletways gearing up for growth

Palletways, one of Europe’s largest provider of express palletised freight services, has set out its plans to invest in new infrastructure and expand into new countries. In an official statement sent to Post&Parcel today (24 September), Palletways said that its plans included:

• a new central hub in Lichfield, which will be fully operational with immediate effect after a successful pilot phase. Situated just 500m from its existing central hub facility, the new facility will increase capacity by 8,000 pallets per day and enable faster turnaround of customers’ goods for onward distribution to their delivery destinations. The site comprises 11,500 square metres of warehouse and sortation space, 750 square metres of office space and a trailer park with capacity for 300 trailers
• the extension of its regional operations in London, Oxford and Scotland increasing their capacity by 40%
• new planned hub facilities in central Germany (Homberg), Southern France (Lyon and Montpelier) and Eastern Europe (location tbc) within the next few months
• the extension of the group’s distribution network into the Nordic countries, which will follow on from its recent expansion into Poland and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in June and Bulgaria and Romania in August
• the continued roll-out of the group’s web-based Digital Information Hub across its networks in Europe
• The introduction of a new online booking facility for customers.

In addition, Palletways noted that, over the last 18 months, it has already established a new regional hub in Milan for Northern Italy; a new, larger hub in Nijmegen, Holland plus a new Palletways Fulfilment warehouse in the same location to service Benelux and the Ruhr Valley; an extension of its Iberian hub in Alcala de Henares, Madrid; and also an extension of its Italian hub in Bologna, Italy.

These developments follow the group’s best year to date for volumes handled across its European network, with a current average of 33,000 pallets being delivered every day. This represents an increase of some 12% compared to the previous 12 months.

This year the Palletway’s group will process more than 8 million pallets with daily averages of 36,000 pallets and seasonal peaks exceeding 40,000 pallets. As the largest and most mature business, the UK will handle 60% of these volumes.

“Our growth into new markets has been supported by our significant and continuous investment in new infrastructure in the UK and abroad and the development of improved communications technology to extend the reach of the business and drive efficiency and performance,” said Luis Zubialde, Managing Director at Palletways UK. “We will continue to build on these solid foundations over the coming 12 months.”

Palletways’ Operations Director Mike Harrison added: “Our investment in new infrastructure is a core component of our growth plans.

“The introduction of the new Terminal 2 in Lichfield, together with plans for new facilities in Europe, will provide significantly more capacity and business opportunities for our network.

“The seamless introduction of this new facility has increased our members’ efficiency by extending their window of operational opportunity through later collection times and earlier departures.”