Posti mulling plans for new €100 million logistics centre investment

Finland’s Posti is reviewing plans to invest more than €100 million in a new logistics centre to support the growth of the e-commerce market.

In a statement issued on Thursday (17 February), Posti said that a decision on the possible construction of the centre will be taken in 2022 or 2023, “once the planning is sufficiently advanced”.

If the plan gets the green light, added Posti, the new logistics centre “would start operations in the second half of this decade at the earliest”.

Commenting on the plans, Turkka Kuusisto, CEO of Posti Group, said: “We anticipate the e-commerce market in Finland to double by the end of this decade. In order to contribute to and support the growth of the e-commerce market, we plan to invest more than €100 million in a new logistics centre in Finland. The investment is significant and fully in line with our strategy, as it will strengthen our ability to deliver efficient, fast and optimised services according to our customers’ needs, taking into account the entire value chain of e-commerce logistics.”

Posti said that, during the preparatory phase of the project, various options for increasing parcel sorting operations and the capacity for supporting them in Finland have been explored. These surveys have taken into account the growth prospects of the e-commerce market and, above all, the change in consumer behaviour as online shopping becomes increasingly popular. In addition, the surveys show that e-commerce is increasingly concentrated in growth centres where population growth is also projected to be strongest.

In the next phase of the project, municipalities and cities interested in the construction project in Southern Finland will be mapped.

According to Posti: “The location of the possible construction site depends, first and foremost, on its central location in terms of the availability of personnel and commuting options as well as logistics solutions, the availability of land, price and how well Posti’s sustainable development goals can be achieved there.”

Posti added that it has already made significant investments to “develop parcel and e-commerce competencies and to strengthen its delivery network” – including €37 million in a new warehouse in Sipoo under construction by logistics company Transval which is set to be completed this year.