DPD has created a new entity, DPD fresh, a new express transport offer (next day delivery) adapted for dry, fresh and frozen products, following a market study with its sister company Chronofresh. The roll-out of the new service goes hand in hand with the move to a new building in Asse-Zellik, part of which is equipped with refrigeration and freezing facilities for food products. Initially, DPD fresh will supply the 19 Brussels municipalities as well as the Flemish periphery around Brussels. By 2022, the new service is aimed to be rolled out throughout Belgium and Luxembourg, after French customers are said to have asked Chronofresh to be able to deliver to Belgium as well.
Koen Verlaenen, General Manager of DPD fresh BeLux, explains, “Our motto is optimal freshness door to door. We take care of the collection and delivery of dry food, fresh and frozen products from our customers and deliver them to the recipients under the best possible conditions. For dry food, this is done without refrigeration, and for fresh food (fruit, vegetables, meat or fish) at temperatures between 0 and 4°C. All frozen food is stored at -18°C. The active cooling network is unique to DPD fresh. We actively cool both in the depots and during transport. This enables our customers to save the often expensive and polluting packaging to keep their goods at the right temperature”.
The Asse-Zellik depot is equipped with refrigeration and freezing rooms that are monitored 24 hours a day. For collection and delivery, DPD fresh works with mobile containers, insulated boxes and refrigerated lorries in order to guarantee the preservation of the cold chain, hygiene and food safety at all times. All measures are described in detail in a health control plan, reportedly, in full compliance with the very strict rules of the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC). Every driver and employee of DPD fresh is also said to have received training, both in logistical aspects and in food hygiene and safety.
Recipients of DPD fresh products can use the myDPD application, notifying them of their delivery with a one-hour timeslot. The application also allows them to track their shipment live and to change the address and/or delivery date up to 30 minutes before delivery.
The digital evolution, boosted in recent months by COVID-19, is having a lasting impact on consumer purchasing behaviour. In the Belgian food sector, accounting for 20% of the total of all sectors, just over 4,000 companies together achieve an annual turnover of €57bn, 45% of which is exported. In 2019, only 1.5% of all food in Belgium was ordered online. It is estimated that this share will double to 3% by 2025. This estimate dates from before the COVID-19 crisis and will therefore probably have to be revised upwards.
Source: DPD
