Charter Hall to develop new 40,000sqm distribution facility for Woolworths

Woolworths has partnered with Charter Hall to develop its new $135M Melbourne Fresh Distribution Centre (MFDC) and has committed to a 15-year lease. The Facility at Drystone Industrial Estate in Truganina will be integrated into the adjoining Hilton Meats Facility, which is also part of the Estate and further expands the national relationship between the two companies across both Industrial and retail facilities.

The new 40,000sqm MFDC is a multi-million-dollar state-of-the-art facility, which will store and deliver fresh produce and chilled products to hundreds of Victorian supermarkets and create hundreds of jobs during construction and when it opens in late 2020.

The custom-designed facility will replace Woolworths’ current operations at Mulgrave, providing a market edge in terms of supply chain dynamics. The MFDC is located adjacent to Woolworths’ meat supplier Hilton Meats’ production facility, also within the Estate.

Co-location with Hilton and closer proximity to more fresh food suppliers will take up to 600 trucks off the West Gate Bridge each week and a further 3,000 truck movements off Melbourne roads each year.

“This development will help us deliver top quality fruit and vegetables to our customers fresher, faster and more efficiently than ever before. At one-and-a-half times the size of the MCG field, the distribution centre will provide a significant uplift in capacity to support our continued growth in Victoria. We’re proud to be investing in a best-in-class supply chain network in Victoria – delivering fresher food to our customers, taking trucks off Melbourne’s roads, and creating hundreds of new jobs,” Woolworths Chief Supply Chain Officer Paul Graham said.

The MFDC is due for completion in late 2020 and is targeting a Five Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia, with a solar panel system on the roof, charge points for electric trucks, and fuel savings of more than 400,000 litres each year from transport efficiencies.

Source: Transport & Logistics News