Parcel delivery firm DPD Ireland invested €8.1m (US$9.1m) in parcel facilities and technology in the first 10 months of 2021, amid the Covid-19 e-commerce boom.
The company spent €5m (US$5.6m) expanding capacity in the hub in Athlone and €3m (US$3.3m) upgrading IT infrastructure to speed package delivery to customers. It also opened a new 15,000ft2 distribution center for Cavan and Monaghan in April, to facilitate the one million deliveries completed around the two counties this year. DPD also opened a new depot in Kilkenny and expanded production at its central hub in Athlone.
After jumping from 17 million parcels in 2017 to 36 million in 2020, volumes are reportedly up to 44 million in 2021. DPD, which has currently 37 depots across the country, delivered more than 3,000,000 parcels nationwide in October 2021.
Additionally, DPD Ireland’s staff numbers grew from 700 in 2017 to 2,200 in 2021, creating a number of new departments including customs, training, security, audit, transformation and telesales. This overall expansion was intended to increase DPD’s capacity to handle the amplified demand and peak events such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas. The result has been reported revenues of €158m (US$178m) in 2020, hitting DPD Ireland’s 2025 revenue targets in one year.
DPD chief executive Des Travers said, “We made this investment in our infrastructure, opening new depots, to ensure we can continue to meet the high levels of demand for our services. We experienced one of the biggest booms in online retailing over the past 18 months, but we also experienced a shift in behavior. Even with shops re-opening, a reliance on online shopping has been maintained by consumers, and this is going to be our new normal going forward.”