Amazon to recruit staff for new Melton warehouse

Reuters A man wearing a yellow high-vis vest holding a brown cardboard box, which he is about to stack on top of a pile of other brown cardboard boxes of varying sizes. His back is turned to the camera.Reuters
Amazon said the facility was part of a £40bn investment over the next three years

A new Amazon warehouse is to open in East Yorkshire later this year with recruitment due to start next month, the online giant has said.

Up to 2,000 jobs are expected to be created at the facility at Melton West Business Park, near North Ferriby.

It is part of the retailer's £40bn investment to expand in the UK over the next three years, with three other centres to open in the East Midlands, which Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has hailed as a "major win".

Amazon said recruitment for its new "state-of-the-art fulfilment centre" near Hull was expected to begin on 11 July.

Fulfilment centres are large warehouses where customer orders can be picked, packed and shipped - some of which use the latest technology including robotics.

A grey building in the distance with the 'amazon' sign. The gates to the compound is open.
Amazon already has a delivery station next door to the new Melton site

The company said it was creating more than 60 roles at each of the new sites, including positions for robotics technicians, safety experts and mechatronic engineers, with full-time employees earning a minimum of £28,000 a year.

Plans for the building were approved in December 2021, despite more than 1,300 objections.

Amazon, which hires more than 75,000 people in the UK and is one of the country's biggest private sector employers, also confirmed significant expansion plans for its London headquarters.

Sir Keir said: "Amazon's £40bn investment adds another major win to Britain's basket and is a massive vote of confidence in the UK as the best place to do business.

"It means thousands of new jobs - real opportunities for people in every corner of the country to build careers, learn new skills and support their families."

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the investment was a "powerful endorsement of Britain's economic strengths".

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.