Australia Post has opened a new parcel facility in Sydney to keep up with record demand amid Black Friday sales and in the lead up to Christmas.
The new 20,000-square-metre facility is capable of processing over 100,000 parcels per day, bringing Australia Post’s total processing capacity in New South Wales to almost 1.5 million parcels per day.
It is part of a $1 billion investment by the organisation, which includes new dedicated parcel sorting machines in two locations, each capable of processing more than 8,000 parcels per hour, with a third site planned in Western Sydney due to go live prior to Christmas 2022.
Australia Post has seen deliveries for online shopping increase by as much as 59 percent in NSW year-on-year during the last four months, with the organisation consistently delivering more than 4.7 million parcels a week.
“We’re thrilled to have this new facility online, as not only will it enable us to process and deliver more parcels this Christmas, it’s scanning capabilities mean we can provide more tracking notifications for our customers as well,” he said.
Graham said the new facility will reduce manual handling, significantly improving the safety for staff.
Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, Paul Fletcher MP, said lockdowns in major cities over the past two years meant an “explosion” in parcel volumes.
“With some of the rise in internet shopping bound to be a permanent feature of our logistics landscape, it is pleasing this new facility will come online from today and assist Australia Post in meeting the expectations of its millions of customers,” he said.
In early 2022, 250 delivery vans will begin operating from the Botany site, servicing customers in more than 30 postcodes in eastern Sydney.