An Post has opened a second ecommerce processing centre, completing its €30 million ecommerce campus and boosting its capacity to 2½ million parcels a week as the company prepares for Brexit.
The new centre is beside the automated Dublin Parcel Hub, which opened a year ago.
"We are investing in the reorientation of our whole business from the old world of traditional letters to new world of ecommerce parcels," said Garrett Bridgeman, managing director of An Post Mails and Parcels.
“We have been preparing and significantly investing in our technology and infrastructure capability all year to support businesses post Brexit on January 1st. We will be able to manage the changes that Brexit will bring for businesses and consumers in a seamless way.”
Processing machine
The new centre is designed to handle padded envelopes and smaller boxed items, a growing category for post both coming into the country and going out as online shopping surges. Work on new processing machinery began earlier this year as the company targeted the 2020 Christmas period. The Beumer Packet Processor can handle 100,000 items a day, and can recognise Irish locations, Eircodes and Irish-language addresses.
“We have been asking customers to bear with us. The largest delivery team in the country, using the very best technology, is working hard to make sure that mail and parcels are delivered,” Mr Bridgeman said.
The opening of the new centre was welcomed by Hildegarde Naughton, Minister of State with responsibility for road transport and logistics. She described it as "an incredible achievement" by An Post. "This enhanced capacity will also serve as an opportunity for Irish businesses working to grow and enhance their online presence on the run-up to Christmas and beyond."
