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BURTONWOOD is the centre of a transformation of how Royal Mail operates through the opening of a huge new ‘super hub’.
Based at Omega on the site of the former Burtonwood Airbase, the new state-of-the-art processing centre is the size four and a half football pitches.
The hub is the first of its kind for the postal business as it invests in parcel delivery on top of its letter delivery branch.
It was officially opened on Thursday, by Warrington South MP Andy Carter, who said he was pleased to welcome hundreds of jobs to the town.
Warrington South MP Andy Carter tours the new hub
The super hub, which measures 32,000 square metres in size, can process more than 800,000 parcels every day.
Broken down further, the automated centre can sort up to 40,000 items in a single hour, or one parcel every 0.09 seconds.
The huge new facility operates seven days a week and houses the latest scanning, sorting and tracking technology.
Parcels are processed at the site
It represents a significant investment by Royal Mail and comes after domestic parcel volumes rose more than 30 per cent during the Covid pandemic.
The firm is aiming to support customers’ growing demands for next-day delivery and delivery of larger items, with the hub set to employ around 600 people at full capacity.
Present at the opening was Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson said: “Today is a brilliant day, and it is really great to be here.
“Royal Mail is now a parcels business that also delivers letters.
Simon Thompson (orange jacket) at the opening
“Our new parcel super hub will allow us to give consumers exactly what they want – being able to order products very late in the day to have them delivered the very next day, seven days a week.
“We can compete and win in the parcels market, which will give our team the job security they deserve both today and tomorrow.
The new super hub at Omega
“We have a long history in the area, we have a strong workforce, and it is a great area for the e-commerce network and retail.”
Conveyor tracks in the hub move at 4.6mph, and over the course of a night, each travels 98 miles – the equivalent of 3.7 marathons.
Moreover, there are 102 staircases inside the hub with around 1,500 steps in total – almost enough to climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Mr Carter commented that the facility is “phenomenal” and complimented his push for jobs in the town.
The hub features miles of conveyors
Automation is a key feature
He said: “Given the disruption of the pandemic and the increased demand for online ordering, it is great to see Royal Mail investing in facilities fit to meet these challenges, as well as creating hundreds of jobs for local people in our region.”
Royal Mail is pursuing an ambitious programme of automation across the business, with a second super hub in the midlands on track to open in summer 2023.
In March 2022, the firm reached the milestone of 50 per cent of parcels automated, up from 33 per cent last year, and it is aiming to reach its target of 90 per cent parcel automation by 2023-24.
The hub is also home to a fleet of 20 bio-compressed natural gas HGVs, which will help to reduce direct emissions by around 85 per cent compared to diesel lorries.
