Hub for Parceline
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• Mayne Nickless, the Australian multi-national transport group, is investing over £6 million in Parceline, the British parcels delivery company taken over last year from the De La Rue group.
The million is being spent on a Midlands Hub sorting centre, bringing Parceline into the mode of operation already adopted by TNT, Lex Wilkinson, Independent Express and — shortly — United Parcels.
It hopes to gain final detailed planning permission next week from Sandwell Borough Council for the hub to be built at Roebuck Lane, West Bromwich on a site close to the MS. The hub should be open by February next year, when the Great Barr depot will close.
An automated, computer
controlled parcels sorting system has been designed and built for Parceline by Sandvik. Hitherto, the company's 28 distribution centres have relied on mechanical handling rather than automation.
The new centre will accommodate sorting of the 15 million parcels currently handled each year by Parceline and will have immediate capacity for another 15 million.
The new site is large enough to accommodate additional handling space to take annual business over 50 million parcels.
The switch to a hub and spoke system, to support Parceline's range of next morning, next-day and two/three-day services, will mean an increase in the number of trunking vehicles and a drop in the number of smaller vehicles in its 700strong fleet.
The hub investment follows the investment of £1 million in a computerised single-entry documentation system run from a new southern English distribution centre at Newbury, Berkshire.
Another depot, at Woodford Green, East London, opens in about two months and will replace the Hornsey and Hackney depots.
Mayne Nicldess's takeover of Parceline gave it a foothold in Europe,