dao initiates new terminal in Fredericia

The Danes' use of e-commerce increased massively in 2020, and that naturally affected dao, the country's leading distribution company at home delivery.

In December 2020, dao delivered more than twice as many parcels to private homes compared to the prior December, i.e. a growth of more than 100 per cent.

The explosive growth has continued in 2021, where the parcel deliveries continued to reach new heights with a higher delivery than December 2020. This is an unprecedented growth and have never happened before.

In order to serve the demand from our increased customer base, dao is now establishing a new, large parcel sorting system as well as investing a significant double-digit million DKK in a new terminal building in Fredericia.

CEO of dao, Morten Villberg, describes the development as a growth adventure.

“We have never been as busy as in 2020. And we did not, in our wildest dreams, imagined that we would get even busier in January than in the Christmas month. Of course, the closure of society plays a significant role, but the development emphasizes that the Danes have taken e-commerce seriously. Therefore, we also believe that growth will continue with an undiminished strength. With the new system, we will have a greater opportunity of automated sorting, which is crucial in our efforts in creating capacity for even larger quantities.” Says Morten Villberg.

The expectation is that the new sorting system will already be in operation in second half of 2021 and the plan is furthermore to establish another sorting system on Zealand in 2022.

It is especially home delivery that is growing. dao covers 98 per cent. of the country households all 365 days of the year - and most often the parcels are delivered before people wake up.

“dao is built on the newspapers' nationwide distribution network. It gives us a unique delivery advantage. Every single morning, all year round, newspapers are delivered to the address before the morning coffee is on the jug, which means that dao is the leading supplier on the ‘last mile’ all the way home to the consumer.” Explains Morten Villberg.

Parcel distribution today accounts for more than half of the revenue at dao, which together with PostNord and GLS is one of the big three players in the market for parcel distribution to private individuals. In addition to home delivery dao also operates a nationwide network of 1600 delivery points throughout the country.

To minimize CO2 emissions, an increasing part of the distribution takes place on specially designed electric vehicles, just as a large fleet of cars has been leased for land distribution which can run on biodiesel. All carriers use an electronic carrier book with GPS documentation to ensure the largest possible delivery security and customer satisfaction.

dao is owned by Jysk Fynske Medier and JP/Politikens Hus. Chairman of the Board Bjarne Munck describes the development as exceptional satisfying.

“dao has been eminent for seizing the opportunities in the parcel market, and we welcome the fact that dao is one of the largest players in market and additionally also gains market share. With the growth expectations there is for the parcel market, the potential is huge, which is also reflected in the owners' expectations and willingness to invest ”, says Bjarne Munck and elaborates ”in addition to the investment in the sorting system, we are also expanding the organization to scale the business to the new level and optimize the customer experiences throughout the system. Right now, we are in the process of recruiting a COO for dao.”