Royal Mail is trialling hydrogen fuel technology in Scotland as it looks to make its fleet more sustainable. Provided by Aberdeen City Council, the Ford dual-fuel vehicle will be evaluated for a 12-month trial period across a range of postal routes in the Aberdeen area before potentially being rolled out (more…)
UK convenience retailer Co-op will now offer deliveries via robot in a second UK town after the success of the launch in Milton Keynes. The service will now be available to customers within three miles of the Co-op store in Wootton Fields, Northampton, reaching around 5000 households in total. Customers (more…)
DHL has taken on a new warehouse in Spain, which it will use to serve fast fashion retailer Zalando in the country. The 37,500 square metre development will be leased from developer GLP in Illescas, a central location near to Madrid with easy eaccess to the A42 and A4 motorways. (more…)
Netherlands-based grocer Albert Heijn has expanded its home delivery service to eight new municipalities in Belgium. The company said it would expand the coverage of the ah.be ecommerce offering to the Mechelen and Rupel regions of Flanders, bringing the total population coverage to 275,000 households. The orders will be fulfilled (more…)
Aldi has extended its trial with Deliveroo to roughly 90 more UK stores, bringing the total to around 130 across the country. The new stores include stores in Scottish city Aberdeen and Wales’s Cardiff as well as new cities in England such as Bristol and Liverpool. Customers within 6km of (more…)
DHL Supply Chain is working with DP World to build a new large warehouse in south-east England. The 482,000 square foot warehouse will be built at DP World London Gateway, strategically located where the Thames river opens onto the North Sea. The fully automated warehouse will be 42m high, with (more…)
Poste Italiane has acquired postal carrier Nexive, consolidating the Italian market. The acquisition, expected to close in January 2021, values Nexive at €60 million, although the final purchase price will be determined later. With turnover of €200 million in 2019 and 1300 employees, Nexive has a market share of 12% (more…)
Co-op has expanded its delivery speed in rural areas of Wales and western England through a new partnership. Last mile specialist Zoom 1 Hr Delivery will provide the service to customers within 4km of 40 stores in Wales and 10 along England’s border with it, with the orders picked by (more…)
Tesco is accelerating its move to net zero carbon emissions by introducing electric vehicles to its delivery fleet and sourcing renewable energy. The supermarket chain is introducing 30 electric vans in Greater London this month. It aims to have a fully electric fleet for home delivery by 2028. Tesco is (more…)
DPD has joined the SwipBox parcel locker network in Poland. The addition means that parcels ordered online and fulfilled by DPD can be delivered to and collected from parcel lockers. The SwipBox lockers are located in a range of locations including post offices and retail stores. The carrier’s Polish arm (more…)
DHL Supply Chain has launched the first fully electric 16-tonne vehicle in the UK, making a major step forward in its decarbonisation of the final mile. The Volvo FL Electric 4X2 rigid vehicle uses four 200 kWh batteries with the capacity to run for 120 miles. It can carry a (more…)
Hermes drivers will gain additional accuracy when finding addresses through a new partnership. The technology from PostTag is able to check, verify and locate a precise address when an order is placed, ensuring that drivers go to the correct address first time. Chris Ashworth, CIO, Hermes UK, said: “Our drivers have been working (more…)
Dutch online marketplace bol.com has moved entirely to renewable energy in its warehouses in the Netherlands and Belgium. The switch to zero carbon, which also applies to offices and data centres, has been achieved through widespread use of green installations. The company has worked with renewable energy firm Eneco to (more…)
DIA, a Spanish supermarket chain, has launched a one-hour delivery service that covers the majority of the country’s population. Called Express Shipping, the service provides a curated assortment of 1000 products, operating from 400 stores across the country. It is available to over 60% of the total Spanish population and (more…)
Department store Debenhams will now allow customers to pick up and return parcels at local shops through a new tie-up with Hermes. The Hermes ParcelShop option will be available on the site alongside normal home delivery. This gives customers access to 4500 locations across the UK, located in convenience stores. (more…)
Carrier DPD has taken on a lease at a new warehouse in southern England. The ten-year lease will give DPD use of a 47,888 square foot site in Dartford, Kent. The space is at Orbital 48, which offers direct access to Central London via the A2, A20 and A13. It (more…)
Beauty and cosmetics retailer Lush will now be able to offer same-day delivery across the UK through a new partnership. The UK retailer is using last mile delivery platform Stuart to offer the service, which can deliver the items in less than two hours. Th The offer is available from (more…)
Ocado is acquiring two robotics companies as it looks to expand into areas outside online groceries. The UK-based grocer and technology company has acquired Kindred Systems and Haddington Dynamics for $262 million and $25 million respectively. Founded in 2014, Kindred Systems is a robotics company based in San Francisco and (more…)
UK postal carrier Royal Mail has taken on a new five-year lease at a logistics site near Heathrow airport. The 91,349 square foot site is located on Bedfont Road, 2.5 miles from Heathrow Cargo Terminal. It offers access to motorways including the M25, M3 and M4. The new site is (more…)
Yodel is expecting to achieve profitability in its current financial year, its CEO says, after a surge in volumes and cost-cutting programmes. The carrier, which counts the likes of Shop Direct and Missguided amongst its customers, has seen volumes up 16% in the three months to the end of September (more…)