News

Clipper Logistics' pilot scheme to offer retailers at Sheffield's Meadowhall shopping centre a consolidation centre - which it calls an Accelerated Response Centre (ARC) - has been so successful that it will be extended nationwide.

The storage and delivery service, from initial order to store within two hours, has been trialled by the logistics company for almost a year. Chief executive Steve Parkin says that when Clipper Group took over the contract from DHL Exel, only five retailers  at the shopping centre were interested. Now, he says, the list is "endless".

"We've made a success out of it," Parkin adds. "Now we will role out the concept throughout the UK. It's very exciting."

Clipper has put itself at the forefront of environmentally-aware companies; it is working with the Carbon Trust, a company set up by the government to accelerate moves to a low-carbon economy. The Carbon Trust will help Clipper develop a carbon-management programme for its 23 distribution centres and 400-vehicle fleet.

Parkin sees the Meadowhall ARC as the future of store deliveries in terms of environmental issues: it reduces the number of vehicles delivering to stores, cutting pollution and congestion.

And Parkin says the concept won't be limited to the UK: he reports that the company is talking to businesses in the Middle East to develop consolidation processes in the region.

"We believe it's one of our growth areas," Parkin concludes. "We have  to be aware of what's happening in the industry and in the world."