UPN was founded in 2001 in response to the changing demands of the UK’s palletised freight market, and we joined in 2010 in order to offer our customers the benefits of being part of such a network.

UPN’s hub and spoke system operates from a central facility in Lichfield to provide a palletised freight transhipment and administration service. Its IT systems link with ours to ensure seamless and integrated processes and the maintenance of the highest standards. As a result, both our customers and ourselves are reassured that a reliable, professional palletised delivery service can continually be offered across the UK.

How it works

• UPN operates a simple and effective hub and spoke distribution system, designed specifically for palletised freight. They have a national network of over 60 member depots that collect and deliver freight every day from across the UK, Eire and Europe, before transporting it to their central hub.
• The new UPN hub is centrally located near Lichfield, Staffordshire, providing superb transport links to the rest of the UK and minimising the number of road miles travelled. UPN members work closely with each other and the hub to ensure peak efficiency and maintain industry-leading service levels.
• Each member collects freight daily from their allocated postcode area and consolidates it onto its trunk vehicles. They then travel to UPN’s central hub, where every pallet is checked and scanned. Each pallet is unloaded and sorted into its specific delivery area.
• The outbound freight is loaded onto the vehicles of the member responsible for delivery. It is then carefully checked and every pallet scanned out of the hub for delivery back to the local member.
• Freight is transported to the local delivery depot on trunk vehicles, unloaded, checked and sorted into delivery areas, to ensure that requests for time-specific deliveries are serviced accordingly.
• All pallets are then delivered by a fleet of over 4,000 local delivery and collection vehicles, with drivers using the latest XDA online systems to capture real-time digital proof of deliveries. Proof of delivery can be emailed automatically to customers or depots as required, using UPN’s advanced web-based systems.