DHL lands national grid logistics contract

DHL Supply Chain has secured a four-year contract to provide logistics services for the National Grid. The company will will work with one of the UK's largest utilities businesses to serve the gas and electricity networks. DHL will focus on the National Grid's primary warehouse stores in Birmingham and Didcot while also working at a number of smaller distribution centres throughout the rest of the country. The deal is to help support the maintenance and construction of the organisation of these facilities. The two have been working together for the past nine years and the four-year extension will see DHL expand the current offering that it provides. Officials explained that the company currently manages similar sites that support the National Grid's gas distribution business providing the transport of materials that are needed to fix any problems that may occur in the future. The centre is Didcot will be managed by DHL and will cover 18 secondary and 51 tertiary stores across the nation. National Grid staff members that are based in Birmingham and Didcot will be transferred over to DHL but there is no word on whether there will any new supply chain jobs are to be created in the future. Alan Paterson, business director – utilities and infrastructure at DHL Supply Chain, said: “We’re delighted that National Grid has extended its partnership with DHL. Our in-depth knowledge of the business and experience of the wider utilities and infrastructure market mean we’re ideally placed to help National Grid improve efficiency, improve service levels and deliver continuous improvement, as required under the RIIO framework.” DHL currently operates its supply chain operations all over the globe employing around 125,000 members of staff over 60 different countries. This latest extension with the National Grid will help to boost its storage area to over the 23 million sq ft that it owns at the moment and will also assist in boosting its presence around the country and increase the terminal, warehouse and office number to past 2,400.