AusPost invests $82M in new facility

To keep pace with e-commerce demand, Australia Post is set to build a new parcel facility in Perth.

The 23,000-square-metre facility will reportedly feature automation sortation and capacity to process 14,000 parcels per hour on its first day of operation.

It is expected to be ready in time for Christmas 2022 and has been designed with future scalability in mind with potential to process up to 23,000 parcels per hour.

The new facility will be located in Welshpool near the existing Perth Parcel Centre site and Welshpool Business Hub, and will include an onsite parcel distribution centre to get parcels into customers’ hands even faster.

Australia Post Acting Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Rodney Boys, said the $82 million commitment was part of the organisation’s ongoing investment to meet growing e-commerce demand.

“Following last year’s investment of $450 million, Australia Post continues to invest to meet the phenomenal growth of 30.8 per cent year on year in online shopping with Australians spending more than $50 billion online last year,” he said.

“More recently, Western Australia’s online shopping grew 22.6 per cent in the 12 months to 31 August 2021 with close to one million WA households shopping online.

“The high-speed sorting machinery and automation at this new facility will allow parcels to be processed faster and provide our customers with increased tracking visibility thanks to more scanning events, and will also be safer for our people by significantly reducing manual handling.”

Australia Post Head of Operations in Western Australia, Angus Becsi, said the new investment showed that Australia Post was working hard to improve deliveries for West Australians while the challenges of the pandemic continue.

“Impacts in other states do have a flow-on effect with our operations, so we know we need to keep investing in Western Australia to meet our customers’ needs and help us to deliver as efficiently as possible,” said Becsi.

“In addition to the Welshpool facility announced today, we’re also planning to deliver a new facility in Butler in October 2022, which will replace the current delivery centre in Clarkson, and we’ll be adding close to 200 more electric delivery vehicles to our fleet this year to help our posties deliver more parcels in the lead up to Christmas.”

In related news, the national courier is calling out for more people to help deliver ahead of this year’s Christmas.

Australia Post now has 1,600 additional permanent and fixed term jobs around the country that need filling, together with some 3300 Christmas casual roles still available, as it continues to strengthen processing and delivering capacity to meet the record surge in online shopping.

With vacancies in every state and territory, Australia Post is on the lookout for people to join their teams across parcel and mail processing, van and truck drivers, motorcycle and EDV posties, forklift operators, and in customer service roles.

With more than two million parcels being delivered every day, Australia Post Executive General Manager People and Culture, Sue Davies, encouraged those looking for work to reach out and join Australia Post at an exciting time.

“At the moment, every day feels like Christmas at Australia Post and we’re on the lookout for people to join us and help deliver and process record volumes across the country,” said Davies.

“We’re proud of the outstanding efforts of our people working hard across the country who keeping delivering and supporting communities through challenging circumstances, and we’re so pleased to be able to welcome more into this fantastic Australia Post team.”

Davies said the recruitment drive was part of Australia Post’s ongoing focus of delivering for Australians, while keeping our people and communities safe.

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