Ocado to close Hatfield warehouse; 2,300 jobs at risk

Online supermarket Ocado said on Tuesday that Ocado Retail - its joint venture with Marks & Spencer - is planning to end operations at the Hatfield Customer Fulfilment Centre, putting more than 2,000 jobs at risk.

Ocado said that as part of the proposed network changes, it does not expect any change to the volume of orders fulfilled. Around 20% of Ocado’s 400,000 orders per week are handled at Hatfield, the oldest site in the network. These will be moved to the company's "high-productivity, next-generation facilities" around the UK.

This will include the nearby Luton CFC which is scheduled to open later this year.

There are currently around 2,300 employees based in Hatfield, and Ocado has now n begun a consultation process with colleagues on these proposals.

The company said its priority will be to redeploy as many people as possible to other sites, namely the soon-to-be-opened Luton CFC. The consultation is expected to close in the summer, with Hatfield operations planned to halt in line with the start of operations at the Luton site.

Ocado chief executive officer Tim Steiner said: "As the online grocery channel grows, our new, enhanced fulfilment centres and technologies will drive a step change in customer experience and efficiency.

"With this capacity coming online, now is the right time for us to halt operations at our oldest facility at Hatfield and consider our future options for the site. Ocado.com customers will continue to enjoy the same outstanding standard of service throughout the region, which will further improve as the benefits of our new technologies are deployed across the network."