Hermes has announced plans to build a £60m state-of-the-art distribution hub in Yorkshire as it looks to keep pace with the boom in online shopping.
The delivery firm says the 363,000 sq ft facility, called Colossus, will be the largest distribution centre in Europe and will process 1.3 million parcels a day.
The hub, which will be built on land just off Junction 36 of the M1, will create around 1,300 jobs and is due for completion by 2022.
Martijn de Lange, chief executive at Hermes, said: “The online shopping boom shows no sign of slowing down and we have just experienced our biggest Christmas period to date, handling in excess of 49.1 million parcels during December 2019 alone – significantly up from 39.5 million in December 2018.
“Our continued investment to strengthen our network and infrastructure across the UK is laying the foundations for future growth, creating more employment opportunities and confirming our position as an industry leader.”
Hermes has also announced plans to invest in its Nottingham and EuroCentral depots this year, adding automation and capacity in order to process an additional 280,000 parcels annually.
