HRH The Princess Royal recently opened Palletforce’s (www.palletforce.com) new SuperHub distribution facility at Burton on Trent — eight years after opening the company’s original distribution hub.

Since then, the company has expanded its staff from 80 to 400, and its turnover has grown from £8 million to £100 million.

Meanwhile, more than £65 million has been invested across its network — in infrastructure, technology and people — since its acquisition by EmergeVest in 2015.

The Princess Royal was greeted by dignitaries and company directors before being taken on a tour of the 620,000ft² custom-built facility, which can handle 30,000 pallets of freight every night.

Equipped with the latest technology and software, including a computerised weight-checking system, the SuperHub is expected to create around 70 new jobs locally within Palletforce and about 10-times as many across its wider network when fully operational.

After the visit, CEO Michael Conroy said: “We were thrilled to welcome back HRH The Princess Royal for what is the start of a new era for Palletforce.

"We’ve come a long way since her last visit in 2009, and the new £50 million SuperHub represents an emphatic expression of confidence in our future.

“No other pallet or distribution network in the UK has shown the ability to take such a significant step to create capacity, facilitate growth and ensure the future success of its membership and network.”