ROYAL MAIL has opened its new state-of-the-art Midlands Super Hub in Daventry.
The 53-acre site – the equivalent of 30 football pitches – takes its place as Royal Mail’s largest automated parcels facility. It has the capability to process up to 90,000 items an hour, with each parcel taking just seven minutes to pass through the site’s sorting machines.
Alongside its sister Super Hub in the North West, this addition to the Royal Mail business creates an interconnected, market-leading parcels network that stretches across the United Kingdom.
“This is a very exciting time for Royal Mail. The opening of this Super Hub is a key part in our journey to revolutionise our parcels business,” said Royal Mail’s chief operations officer Grant McPherson. “We have now created a state-of-the-art network of Super Hubs that processes parcels at incredible speeds, has the transport links to ship them efficiently across the United Kingdom and fulfils the needs of our customers for a reliable parcels business that will deliver for them the next day, every day of the week.
“It is truly an investment in the future. It puts us on track to meet our mission to reduce our carbon emissions, and with the Royal Mail Academy centralised at the Super Hub, it’s also an investment in the development and future of our employees.”
Chris Heaton-Harris, MP for Daventry and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who attended the opening, said: “I welcome this important investment by Royal Mail, which will give an extensive boost to the economy here. I have been so impressed by this facility and have no doubt it will bring many opportunities to the area.”
The new facility is on the doorstep of several of the nation’s major online retailers. One of its major features, its integrated rail link and dedicated Royal Mail train, connects the Super Hub to the West Coast Mainline which runs from the hub to the firm’s Scottish distribution centre near Glasgow.
The train outstrips the capacity of lorries, taking up to 16 Royal Mail trucks off the road every day, and more than 3,000 a year. All of this contributes to Royal Mail’s Steps to Zero campaign – a drive to reduce the business’ carbon emissions to net zero by 2040.
See more pictures in the August edition of Business Times, Northamptonshire’s business newspaper. Out now. Subscribe to receive your copy every month here.