DPD East London Hub supports all electric deliveries within north and south circular

Parcel delivery firm DPD has opened a new sorting and distribution centre in Bromley-By-Bow in East London, which has the capacity to deliver up to 80,000 parcels to London each day.

The new Docklands “eco-sortation” and distribution facility features a 430-metre long conveyor system which extracts all intra-London parcels for next-day delivery, removing the need to transport them to the Midlands for sorting and then back to London, which is what has happened previously.

The site has been fitted with solar panels on the parking canopy to help charge the 500 electric delivery vans and a 40,000 litre hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) tank to fuel the fleet of LGVs and 7.5T trucks with biofuel. The new facility is diesel-free and DPD says all its deliveries within London’s north and south circular will be all-electric.

The new centre was opened by Transport Secretary Mark Harper who said, “I was delighted to attend the opening of DPD’s new London hub, which will speed up delivery times, create new jobs and support an important industry that contributes billions to our economy.”

Elaine Kerr, CEO of DPD UK, commented, “This investment represents another huge step towards our net zero goals and, I believe, demonstrates the new gold standard for a green parcel delivery operation in London, or any city.

“We opened the UK’s first all-electric parcel delivery depot in Westminster almost exactly five years ago. Now Docklands demonstrates what is possible, on a much bigger scale.

“We are constantly looking for new and smarter solutions, as we demonstrated earlier this year with the roll-out of autonomous robot deliveries, and we will continue investing in green innovation to accelerate our decarbonisation pathway.” 

The new facility means that DPD’s delivery service within London’s north and south circular area will be all-electric.