SingPost opens $130M e-commerce logistics facility
Singapore Post (SingPost) has launched a new three-storey facility that features a fully-automated parcel sorting system that can process up to 100,000 parcels a day.
The local postal service operator said Tuesday the S$182 million (US$130.85 million) site was its "largest e-commerce logistics investment" to date, encompassing two warehousing floors and 150 simultaneous loading bays as well as an office block. Its ground-floor automated sorting system also had shipping and returns management capabilities, it said.
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Spanning a built-up area of 553,000 square feet, the e-commerce logistics hub would handle parcels for delivery within Singapore and scheduled for shipment worldwide.
Chua Taik Him, deputy chief executive officer of IE Singapore, said the facility would further support SingPost's local and overseas expansion amid the growing e-commerce market in Southeast Asia. It also would boost Singapore's capabilities in fulfilment and support regional e-commerce trade flows, Chua said. The government agency is responsible for driving international trade and helping local companies globalise.
According to SingPost Chairman Simon Israel, the company's e-commerce logistics network supported 19 markets in Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the US.
The company on Tuesday also officially launched its Centre of Innovation, built to support research on new logistics and postal services jointly conducted with research organisations and institutions of higher learning. Key focus areas on new technologies included robotics and automation.
SingPost in October 2015 conducted a pilot involving a drone, or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), that authenticated the recipient before the delivery was allowed to be made.
Last week, it also officially established a joint venture with China's Alibaba Group Holding--an initiative that was first announced in July last year. Alibaba has been a SingPost shareholder since 2014, teaming up with the Singapore postal operator to beef up its e-commerce logistics coverage.
Alibaba had invested S$86.2 million (US$61.97 million) SingPost-subsidiary Quantium Solutions International, which would become the joint venture between the two partners. SingPost owns 66 percent of the combined entity, while its Chinese partner owns the remaining 34 percent.