- Parcel and express service provider DPD develops plan of action for Olympic Games
- Investment of £1.3 million ensures trouble-free delivery operations during the Olympics
London, 25 July 2012 – International parcel and express service provider DPD has set up a plan of action to deal with the enormous logistical challenges provided by the 30th Summer Olympics in London. Since 2011 a special DPD ‘Olympic Project Team’ has been working on plans and solutions for dealing with security zones, lockdown venues and the additional traffic congestion caused by spectators, athletes and functionaries. Thanks to these thorough preparations DPD will be able to ensure trouble-free parcel delivery services during the Olympics.
The plan of action includes a number of measures. For example, DPD has set up a temporary facility close to its London Bridge depot, which will reduce the pressure on the remaining DPD locations in the Greater London area. In addition, each of the depots in the impacted region has appointed an ‘Olympic Specialist’ who will coordinate all the relevant measures with the central Olympic Project Team. Drivers will also be provided with assistants who will if required, e.g. in the case of road closures or congestion, make the final delivery on foot. Additional routes will be driven and the number of delivery vehicles has been increased.
During the Olympic Games parcel deliveries will also be implemented early in the morning and in the evenings. At the depots additional customer service staff will enable more customers to collect their own parcels. And if there are delays in spite of all the preparations, the details will be made public in the form of daily updates on the DPD UK website.
DPD UK has invested a total of £1.3 million in order to ensure that the company’s high service levels are maintained during the period of the Olympic Games. As it will not be possible to absorb the whole amount of these costs internally DPD UK has introduced an Olympic surcharge of £1.95 for each parcel which is delivered to those postcode areas where there is extended disruption within the Olympic congestion zone.
Even for DPD normal access will not be possible to the 49 lockdown areas in London, and here parcels will be transferred to the official logistics partner to the Olympic Games. An additional charge, on which DPD has no influence, will be imposed for delivery within these areas.
Background: the logistical challenges posed by the 30th Olympic Games
- The Olympic road network in London covers a total of 175 km, and here temporary disruptions to traffic are to be expected, together with movement restrictions and partial road closures created by security measures.
- Special ‘games lanes’ have been set up for VIP traffic.
- At peak times 800,000 spectators will be travelling by public transport to the various Olympics locations because there will be no parking facilities at the stadiums and other sports venues.
- Everyday 200,000 members of the ‘Olympic family’ will be placing an additional burden on the city’s transport facilities.
- Because of extensive prohibitions on parking 290,000 London households will have to leave their cars on the outskirts of the city.
- Ten events, including the marathon, will involve the use of public roads, which means that these will be completely closed for up to 48 hours.
- The traffic situation will also be affected by a number of events taking place at the same time, for example the concerts at Buckingham Palace, to which up to 60,000 spectators are expected.
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