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Hermes
Helping Hermes build one of the largest distribution centres in Europe and achieve its sustainability ambitions.
Read time: 4 mins Added: 16/09/2021
National delivery firm Hermes has navigated the pandemic and continued to write its success story over the last 18 months as e-commerce boomed. Now it’s time for further growth.
Lloyds Bank has backed the business’ plans to build their largest distribution centre in Europe, covering 339,827 square feet of space, based in Barnsley, Yorkshire.
Not only will the funding help create up to 1,400 jobs but it will also go towards deploying the UK’s largest fleet of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles within in the delivery sector. CNG vehicles operate like gasoline ones with spark-ignited internal combustion engines. The reported benefits of using gas instead of petrol or diesel is that the emission of carbon monoxide, is significantly reduced and produces fewer hydrocarbons than other fuel types. Hermes estimates that, collectively, their fleet of CNG vehicles will reduce its annual CO2 footprint by approximately 24,000 tonnes.
Hermes’ head of fleet David Landy said: “Sustainability is a huge focus for us as we recognise our responsibility as one of the UK’s largest consumer delivery companies. We are committed to putting sustainability at the heart of every aspect of our business, through innovative products and processes. As such, we were an early adopter of CNG as an alternative fuel and are continuing to increase its presence in our fleet, to drive down emissions.”
James Longley, Relationship Director within Lloyds Bank’s Corporate & Institutional Coverage team, said: “Hermes is a fantastic growth story, and our support is helping play a key part in this as the business looks to create jobs in Barnsley and deliver a sustainable fleet. The sheer scale of the state-of-the-art distribution centre and sustainable investment in a sector leading CNG fleet are great examples of the ambition of the business and the positive direction of travel in which it continues to head.”
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