Competitor Watch

Amazon is continuing its rapid UK expansion with the c.£120m acquisition of a 22-hectare site in Gateshead, Tyneside, according to document filings at Companies House.

The Follingsby Park South site is expected to become a new fulfilment centre, although the company has not released further details. Amazon currently has 21 fulfilment centres in the UK, with another one due to open in nearby Darlington early this year.

Amazon has also confirmed it is setting up two new delivery stations in Deeside and Cumbria this spring. The company will create 50 new jobs at the 9,000 sqm Deeside site and work with more than a dozen local independent delivery contractors with around 300 drivers who will collect parcels from the delivery station and deliver them to Amazon customers in Flintshire and Cheshire.

In Carlisle, Amazon will employ more than 20 permanent workers and support around 100 drivers from its new 7,000 sqm site, delivering parcels to Cumbria and the Scottish borders.

Kerry-Anne Lawlor, country director for Amazon Logistics said: ‘Amazon’s 20+ years of operational expertise, technology advancements and investment in transportation infrastructure is enabling faster delivery for customers than ever before seven days a week.’

Amazon claims it has created more than 29,500 jobs and invested over £18bn in its UK operations since 2010.

Our own amazing new facility in Warrington has changed the way colleagues work. Strategically located just a stone’s throw from some of our biggest customers – including Amazon – the 32,000sqm facility provides much needed space to help colleagues deal with the rising demand for parcels.

We plan to turn the site, which opened in the summer and replaced the former North West Regional Distribution Centre, into one of three fully-automated parcels hubs as part of our ‘turnaround and grow’ plans to extend our network and win in parcels.