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Ocado shuts Hatfield warehouse putting 2,300 jobs at risk

A worker loads a grocery order into baskets at a ocado
Ocado is planning to shut its warehouse at Hatfield. Photo: Peter Nicholls/Reuters (Peter Nicholls / Reuters)

Online grocer Ocado (OCDO.L) has announced plans to shut its customer fulfilment centre in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, in a move impacting around 2,300 workers.

Ocado said it had begun a consultation with staff and hoped to redeploy “as many as possible” to other sites, including its planned hub in Luton.

The online retailer said its Hatfield site was the oldest in the network and is responsible for handing around 20% of its weekly orders.

Ocado Retail, a 50/50 joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer (MKS.L), said: “The Hatfield CFC remains a foundation stone in the Ocado story, as the company’s first fulfilment centre and a core test bed for the Ocado operating model, now deployed worldwide with Ocado Group’s retail partners.

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“However, over the past decade, Ocado has unveiled a raft of new innovations, enabling huge leaps forward in both CFC productivity and customer experience."

Hatfield’s efficiency levels have been superseded by other newer sites, with newer robots at other depots able to pick more than 200 grocery items per hour, compared to 150 at the Hertfordshire depot.

CEO Tim Steiner said: "We have many brilliant Hatfield-based colleagues who have been with us for a long time and are a big part of our journey.

"We want to keep as much of this talent and experience within the business as possible and expect to retain a large proportion of colleagues impacted by these changes, either in our new Luton CFC or across our wider UK network.

"We will be doing everything we can to support those affected through the consultation."

The consultation is expected to close in the summer 2023, with Hatfield operations expecting to halt when Luton starts operating.

Ocado saw shares slide by 1.21% after it announced its plans.

Watch: Ocado's losses swell to over $600m

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