Australian franchised courier service CouriersPlease has expanded its parcel-handling capabilities with three new sustainable depots launched.
The depots, strategically located in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth, will help CouriersPlease meet its growth plans while supporting the growth of its customers and franchisees in the three cities.
Since appointing CEO Richard Thame in February 2022, CouriersPlease has continued expanding and was recently awarded the National Online Retail Association (NORA) solution partners best carrier award in 2023.
The company also now delivers parcels for more than half of Australia’s major retailers, with its parcel volumes increasing by 20 per cent in 2023.
In the past year, it celebrated 40 years of success and launched a brand refresh as the company now offers retail customers 1200 couriers across more than 800 active territories around Australia.
In Melbourne, the newly launched 15,550sqm Dandenong South facility is larger than the Mulgrave site it’s relocating from. The expansion will allow CouriersPlease to meet surging parcel volumes in Melbourne.
Over the next six months, CouriersPlease will also open a new 28,644sqm depot in Sydney’s Pumulwuy and a 5400sqm depot in Perth’s High Wycombe to support the growth of its customers in the two cities.
The three new facilities mean CouriersPlease has 18 depots in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth, the Gold Coast, Wollongong, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, the Central Coast, Newcastle, Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong.
The Melbourne Dandenong South depot is built to a Green Star standard and includes rainwater reuse infrastructure, while the Perth and Sydney facilities will also meet this standards when completed by April and May 2024 respectively.
“These depots are part of our strategic mission to expand our depot space nationally to meet growing parcel volumes and help grow our franchisees’ businesses,” Thame says.
“Our strong metro fleet will help us continue capitalising on the growth of e-commerce in capital cities, while our expanding regional footprint will provide a better service for the many Australians that have moved to regional areas in recent years.
“At the same time, every new facility that we open will advance sustainability. We’re trialling electric delivery vans with the view of growing our electric fleet, hence the installation of electrical vehicle charging stations and solar arrays to futureproof the depots.”
Thame says enhanced internal ventilation will also reduce the need for heating and cooling.
CouriersPlease has partnered with end-to-end supply chain and property experts TMX Transform to verse the depot builds.
“We’re thrilled to be expanding alongside our customers,” Thame says.
“CouriersPlease remains dedicated to providing exceptional parcel delivery services and a differentiated experience for customers and all Australians while meeting growing demand and future-proofing our operations.”
This article was originally published on Australasian Transport News on February 28, 2024.