New Zealand Post to invest millions in “state-of-the-art” Hamilton hub
New Zealand Post is investing up to NZ$12m in a new “state-of-the-art” hub in the Hamilton area. The company said today it has leased a new 8,000 square metre building at Te Rapa Gateway, and expects the new facility to be operational in the first half of 2016.
Design and planning work is already underway, with work on site expected to begin this August.
The new integrated delivery and distribution hub will house New Zealand Post’s postal and courier operations for Hamilton and the wider Waikato region.
In particular, the investment of $8m ($5.53m USD) to $12m ($8.3m USD) in the facility over “at least” nine years aims to speed up parcel delivery and improve services in the area.
Stu Kane, the New Zealand Post general manager of business performance and optimisation, said the facility supported his firm’s drive toward closer integration between mail and parcel delivery.
“The hub will integrate the Group’s postal and courier functions and is another significant investment in our national network to keep pace with growing demand for parcels,” he said.
“The new building will support innovations that are currently being trialled including the three and four-wheeled eco vehicles that carry letters and parcels. It will accommodate larger trucks; the trucks will only have to deliver to one place, rather than two as they do now; and they will be loaded and unloaded under cover to keep parcels and mail dry.”
New Zealand Post said about 60 postmen and women, 13 rural delivery contractors and 35 couriers will be based at the “significant” hub.
Operations moving to the new facility will include the whole of Express Couriers Ltd, which operates brands including tracked parcel service CourierPost and same-day delivery service Pace, as well as mail processing and delivery activities for Hamilton, rural post services and some administration functions.
The company is now looking for a potential buyer for its existing Waikato Mail Service Centre site, while its existing Express Couriers Ltd site will see its lease expire in July 2016.
New Zealand Post leased the new site from Civil Place Limited. The company’s Chris Croton said the new facility includes various energy efficient elements to lower running costs and improve sustainability.
“We see Hamilton as a growing infrastructure hub which will expand over the next 10 years as Auckland continues to grow,” he said.
