DHL commits £550M to UK logistics expansion and plans 1,000 additional robots

DHL Supply Chain announced on 7 July 2025 that it would invest £550 million in its UK and Ireland logistics infrastructure and automation programmes and planned to deploy more than 1,000 additional robots across UK operations. The programme covered e-commerce and life-sciences healthcare logistics and included the first UK deployment of Boston Dynamics' Stretch truck-unloading robot. The spending figure covered a wider logistics infrastructure programme, not solely purchases of robotic equipment.

DHL already operated more than 2,000 robots across its UK, Ireland and EMEA operations, including over 750 assisted-picking robots from Locus Robotics and 6 River Systems across 18 sites. Stretch adds automated unloading of boxes from trailers to that mix. DHL cited a capability of up to 700 boxes an hour for the Boston Dynamics system, rather than a measured rate across all its sites.

The wider investment includes a new Derby Health Logistics facility with cold-chain and cleanroom capabilities for life-sciences customers. DHL said it had invested €1 billion in automation and completed more than 3,200 digitalisation projects across UK, Ireland and EMEA operations over the preceding three years. Those projects include software and other process changes, while the new UK robot figure is a deployment target.