RMCtv : Auto Trailer Unloader Watch: In-house innovation providing staggering improvements

[POSTMAN]

https://www.myroyalmail.com/news/2025/0 ... r-unloader



We can now unveil our latest innovation, which reduces the average time it takes to unload an HGV trailer from three-and-a-half hours to just six minutes - an improvement of 97%.




Our Automatic Trailer Unloader was fully designed and engineered in just nine months by Royal Mail’s in-house Engineering Team, which invents bespoke solutions to help improve efficiency across the business.

Previously, unloading loose-load trailers – which hold up to 8,000 parcels – could only be done manually.

This new technology vastly speeds up the process by fitting trailers with conveyor belts, providing a seamless connection to the parcel sorting systems inside the Hub, which process around 800,000 parcels a day at speeds of 40,000 parcels per hour.

The first Automatic Trailer Unloader is now live at our North West Super Hub in Warrington and a second will be rolled out to the Midlands Super Hub in Daventry in the coming months. They will be available to some of our large account customers, as part of Royal Mail’s strategy to roll out more automation to boost efficiency and meet growing demand for next-day deliveries.

Neil Chaplain, Engineering and Process Design Director, said: ‘Our new Automatic Trailer Unloader dramatically decreases the processing time for loose-load trailers by removing one of the few manual steps at our hubs.

‘There is no technology on the market that solves this issue in a way that fully satisfies our needs, so our team of engineers designed our own solution. It is a fantastic opportunity for our large account customers, enabling consumers to order even later in the day for next-day delivery.’

Andy Harris, Head of Design Engineering, adds: ‘Ultimately it automates the process straight into the existing APSS system. So it takes the unload time down from a current time manually of three-and-a-half hours to down to under six minutes.

‘The benefit is much faster processing once we get it here to the North West Super Hub. It also presents us with the opportunity as a business to collect from our customers two-and-a-half hours later, which is a fantastic opportunity for the business but also for our customers to present work into our network later on in the day.’

[Jb1969]

Exactly how much time would that take to lose load all those packages?
Letters, where are they?
2hrs+ to unload a double stacker, employing the blind now?
Next they are going to design a sledge & have rain deer to deliver them, judging from the age of that designer it should not be to difficult!!

[tramssirhc]

Is that a modified trailer?

[Jb1969]

Is that a modified trailer?

Yep, looks like a moving floor.
No Yorks!

[richietns]

Excellent now we can work even faster lol.

[oypostie]

No wonder we get so many damaged parcels !!!!

[Hyrrokkin]

Bit confused

So this system works with trailers full of loose packets only then ?

How many trailers come only with loose packets in them then - surely not many if any ?

[A2B]

Bit confused

So this system works with trailers full of loose packets only then ?

How many trailers come only with loose packets in them then - surely not many if any ?

Knowing RM 1 per year

[Smoothbackground]

Bit confused

So this system works with trailers full of loose packets only then ?

How many trailers come only with loose packets in them then - surely not many if any ?

Most Amazon lorries are stacked “loose”. Maybe it’s catching on!

[tramssirhc]

Is that a modified trailer?

Yep, looks like a moving floor.
No Yorks!

That's not cheap.

[Clappedoutpostie]

Is that a modified trailer?

Yep, looks like a moving floor.
No Yorks!

That's not cheap.

But you can make the guy who was interviewed redundant to pay towards it.

[Jb1969]

Is that a modified trailer?

Yep, looks like a moving floor.
No Yorks!

That's not cheap.

I have all but given up with these loony bin ideas that RM have come up with.
What you save on one end you give loading it up whilst spending millions.
And yes, less damage done transporting within a York than lose loading!

[norris9]

Finally, something positive.

[menditsa]

I see no restraints for parcels on that lorry and if VOSA saw that that would be classed as an unsafe load.

Loading like that is crazy you're going to loose 40% of volume.

[Londonsburning]

I see no restraints for parcels on that lorry and if VOSA saw that that would be classed as an unsafe load.

Loading like that is crazy you're going to loose 40% of volume.

It's almost as if it's a big massive lie to forward the Royal Mail bullshit propaganda agenda. Weird