Major new ‘eco-sortation’ delivery centre opens in London

As pressure mounts on online retailers to reduce emissions associated with the final mile, one logistics giant has unveiled a huge new facility and promised to be ‘EV-only’ in major UK cities by 2026. 

Located in Bromley-by-Bow, the new DPD ‘eco-sortation’ centre can handle up to 80,000 parcels per day, and has cost £40million to develop.

The facility prevents the need for parcels to be sent to a national sorting and distribution site in Birmingham, in some cases before returning to London, by processing high volumes of deliveries ready for the home-customer leg of the internet shopping journey. The size of 8.5 football pitches, 500 electric delivery vans will take items to households in the north and south circular areas of the UK capital.

The centre itself features parking bays with sola panels installed, ensuring the fleet can always be charged. And a number of LGVs will also be used, each running on HVO biofuel, with refuelling available on site, further cutting tailpipe and other emissions. The project forms a key step in DPD’s overall goal of switching to electric-only last mile deliveries in 30 of Britain’s biggest towns and cities.

‘I am absolutely delighted to welcome the Secretary of State for Transport to our brand-new Docklands site,’ said Elaine Kerr, DPD UK CEO. ‘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. It is also great to be able to share our vision with so many of our retail partners, who have backed us on this journey to create genuinely cleaner and greener solutions for their customers.’

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