Building work is beginning on a purpose-built New Zealand Post Group hub at Christchurch Airport’s Dakota Park after finalising an agreement a fortnight ago with the International Airport operator.
New Zealand Post will lease the new building adjacent to a new runway facility servicing it’s upgraded air fleet. It is expecting construction will be completed by May 2017.
New Zealand Post executive Ashley Smout says the new Southern Operations Centre will be a strategic asset for the postal operato “It will house our Courier Post and Pace express and courier operations,” says Smout.
“It will form an important part of the backbone of New Zealand Post Group’s overnight mail and parcels network, along with the Waikato Operations Centre in Hamilton, the Auckland Operations Centre in Highbrook and the national road and air fleets,” he says.
“It will serve as our South Island transport and processing hub and enable us to introduce planned innovations and new services to give customers more control over and quicker processing of their parcels.”
The Southern Operations Centre will have additional space for growth according to Smout.
“We’ve secured first rights to the 25,000 square metres of adjacent land to the East of the site for any group expansion in the future,” says Smout.
The new building space occupies 14,628 square metres, compared with 5,000 square metres of the current Wairakei Road site.
The new facility will support a fleet of 80 couriers as well as support 14 air movements and 46 line haul movements in a 24-hour period. It will have automated sorting equipment capable of processing parcels at up to 6,000 pieces per hour.
“New Zealand Post Group’s investment at the site is more than $8 million, including a significant investment in new automated parcel sorting technology, similar to what we have in Auckland,” says Smout.
“But until 2017, it is business as usual for our logistics and processing teams in Christchurch,” he says.
