Parcel delivery firm Hermes has reported that parcel volumes passing through its system between Black Friday and New Year were up 15.7% on last year, making it the company’s best peak season ever.

During the period in question, Hermes handled 36 million parcels and on its busiest day (2nd December) where the company handled 1.56 million parcels alone.

Hermes had opened two temporary hubs in Listerhills and Tamworth to deal with the peak volume. In addition the delivery company expanded its network of self-employed drivers to 15,000, added 242 additional depot vehicles and added 400 trailers to its fleet.

COO Martijn de Lange said: “This year we will build on this success by further strengthening our infrastructure, which includes the opening of our 270,000 sq ft Midlands Super Hub in Rugby, as well as prioritising innovation to boost our portfolio of services and solutions.”

With the boom in e-commerce Hermes is just one of all the major players in the delivery industry to experience a massive spike in volumes that far exceeded last year. The company is in a very competitive environment where margins are extremely thin and despite the massive volumes will have to use scale to get profits that will excite any investor. With Brexit on its way bringing uncertainty it remains to be seen what the environment will be like in the coming 12 months, though any exit cannot happen until March 2019.  
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