22 July 2020 - Sharp increase in capacity by the end of 2020. DPD Belgium is taking advantage of significant European growth in parcel deliveries, in part due to e-commerce, and is investing rapidly in its network and people. By the end of 2020 DPD plans to significantly increase its delivery capacity in Belgium. Overall, this will involve a total investment of €60 million. This year, as many as 500 new jobs will be created, including 200 in operations and 300 new drivers.
During the lockdown, e-commerce exceeded all expectations and is still growing compared with last year. The current Corona crisis has clearly demonstrated the essential nature of parcel deliveries. In April and May 2020, when many European countries went into lockdown, DPDgroup delivered up to 7.5 million parcels a day in Europe. This is nearly 30% more than last year. During the first six months of 2020, growth in the number of B2B parcels was limited in Belgium and Luxembourg, while the B2C segment saw growth of 70%.
Fast response to lockdown
During the lockdown, DPDgroup saw a strong shift towards B2C volume, with signifcant growth in specific services in particular, such as food, toys, sportswear and healthcare. Having to comply with mandatory safety measures such as social distancing has resulted in inefficiency and additional costs in operations. Thanks to the hybrid B2B/B2C model, however, the group was able to respond quickly and effectively.
DPD's innovative services offer parcel recipients transparency and flexibility and have certainly proven their worth. With Predict, customers are given a 1-hour delivery window, notified by email or SMS. With DPD this means that recipients only have to be at home for 1 hour to be sure of receiving their parcel. myDPD also gives recipients various options for changing their delivery, up to 30 minutes before the driver arrives.
Corona crisis speeds up plans by 3 years: new facilities in Lummen, Sint-Niklaas, Asse-Zellik and Puurs
To cope with this huge growth and the coming end-of-year period, DPD is opening new depots in Lummen, Sint-Niklaas and Asse-Zellik. These facilities will be operational in October. At the same time, a new hub will be brought into operation in Puurs.
“Like everyone in the market, the Corona crisis took us by surprise. In the space of a week, the lockdown transformed our operations and put us under huge pressure. But we learned a lot from it too. The corona crisis has essentially sped up our plans by 3 years. That's why we're announcing these investments today,” says Silvio Mestdagh, CEO of DPD Belux.
“As a group we will continue to make significant efforts to further improve the quality of our services and to provide the best customer experience in the market, whilst remaining committed to our engagement in terms of sustainability. The trends that we have witnessed in recent months will continue in the future, with further growth in e-commerce and a related increase in demand for B2C deliveries. Whilst we are investing heavily in B2C, B2B is still very important to DPD. We are using the strong innovation in the 2C segment to further increase flexibility and improve the experience of business recipients (B2B), which is crucial in the SME segment.”
About DPD Belgium
DPD Belgium is part of DPDgroup, the largest international parcel delivery network in Europe. Through innovative technologies and local knowledge, DPD provides the best possible experience for both sender and recipient. DPD’s industry-leading Predict service sets new standards in parcel delivery. Customers can change the date or place of delivery of their parcel at the last minute or have their parcel delivered to one of the 800 Pickup parcel shops in Belux.
As part of DPDgroup, DPD Belgium has access to more than 46,000 local Pickup points worldwide, 1,600 of which are in the Benelux countries. DPD delivers to more than 230 countries worldwide. At DPDgroup, 77,000 people work together to deliver more than 5.3 million parcels a day. The international network is extremely important, but it contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases. To tackle this challenge, DPDgroup has developed an ambitious programme called DrivingChangeTM, which aims to deliver every parcel in a CO2 neutral way, without additional cost to the customer.
DPDgroup is the parcel delivery network of the French Groupe La Poste. For more information: www.dpd.be
