CourierPost is undertaking a $50 million development at Highbrook to maintain its market-leading status and ensure that the business is prepared to meet increasing freight and delivery demands in the coming decades. It is the largest single investment ever made by the company, which is responsible for 46% of the New Zealand courier market. The new automated sortation system set for installation at the giant hub next to Auckland’s southern motorway, and the technology underpinning it, represent a first for this country.

The Highbrook project’s scope is vast, and the construction, to be completed by September, follows two years of research and validation. At 19,500 sqm, the state-of-the-art, purpose-designed depot is larger than Eden Park, and will be the hub of CourierPost’s Auckland operations. It includes 3,000 sqm of interchange and 2,000 sqm of office space, with opportunity to expand further.

A key element of the facility is the $16 million automated parcel-sortation system, which employs technology never seen before in New Zealand and puts the company at the forefront of automation. It will facilitate the processing of 18,000 items per hour, a massive increase on the 3,000 items currently processed at CourierPost’s largest depot in the country, located in Carbine Road, Mt Wellington. This depot’s operations will be amalgamated with those of the two other Auckland depots (East Tamaki and Church Street, Onehunga) into the Highbrook facility when it opens in April 2009.

The automated sorter is 354m long with over 900m of conveyors, 800 motors and 100 separate conveyor belts.

The automated system’s developers, FKI Logistix and BCS, were selected for the project by CourierPost based on their specialization in freight handling systems and creation of numerous successful installations globally.

The choice of Highbrook as a location was a strategic one, basing CourierPost’s offices and automated processing facility in a central and easily accessible location which is also adjacent to some of its largest customers, such as Office Max, which distributes approximately 17 items per minute with CourierPost.

CourierPost General Manager Mark Gibson said CourierPost had consistently been at the forefront of investment in new technology. “This latest investment illustrates our market leadership position and our intention of maintaining it. The simple business imperative is to secure our competitive advantage through streamlining CourierPost’s services for efficiency, security and safety, therefore positioning us well for overall future growth.”

“We undertook this development and made the investment after projecting parcel volumes to 2020, which we found exceeded CourierPost’s current capacities. To protect and increase our market share, an improvement was required.”

Mr Gibson said, “The size of our investment indicates our confidence in CourierPost’s and our customers’ futures. It future-proofs the business by providing a platform to ensure that we continue to give our customers consistently superior levels of service for many years to come, by equipping us to manage the ever-increasing volume of packages and tightening delivery timeframes.”

The latest investment is the largest in a string of new business developments in Auckland and across the country. During the past five years CourierPost has constructed new depots on Auckland’s North Shore and in the city’s west and south, and has moved the CBD depot to a new location. Construction of a new depot in Queenstown was also completed earlier this year.