Amazon Australia announces robotics fulfilment centre for Melbourne

Media
Wednesday 9th August 2023

New robotics centre to create around 2,000 jobs, working alongside cutting-edge technology

Around 2,000 additional jobs will be created during construction and fit out of the building

MELBOURNE – 9 August, 2023 – Amazon Australia today announced plans to open its second Amazon Robotics fulfilment centre (FC) at the AustralianSuper owned Craigieburn Logistics Estate, in Craigieburn, northern Melbourne. Targeting completion in 2025, the new site will house up to 25 million of the smaller items that are sold on Amazon.com.au. Amazon Australia’s investment in the site continues the company’s commitment to Australia, boosting employment opportunities and improving selection and delivery promise for customers around the country.

It will create around 2,000 local jobs once fully operational, with the opportunity to work alongside advanced robotics. Excavation works have begun on the site which is being developed by LOGOS. It is expected the construction and fit out of the state-of-the-art facility will create an additional 2,000 jobs for the area. Once open, the site will offer a diverse range of job opportunities from part time to full time, in a high-tech, industry-leading workplace. Jobs will range from highly skilled roles like IT, HR and engineering, to entry level roles with on-the-job training. The majority of jobs will be permanent full-time roles, offering exciting career opportunities, competitive pay and benefits such as subsidised healthcare and up to 20 weeks paid parental leave.

The fulfilment centre will span around 209,000 square metres across four levels – that’s equivalent to 11 Melbourne Cricket Grounds, or five times the size of Federation Square, making it the largest warehouse ever built in Australia (beating Amazon’s Western Sydney robotics site by 9,000 sqm). The construction of this second robotics site follows the successful launch of Amazon Australia’s first robotics site in Western Sydney in 2022, which doubled the company’s operational footprint.

The new fulfilment centre will be equipped with advanced Amazon Robotics technology to better assist employees, serve customers, and contribute to the company’s efforts to deliver a seamless experience for its Australian customers. Robots will work collaboratively with employees by moving ‘pods’ of inventory to them, reducing the time and effort that would otherwise be required for the employee to stow items for sale or pick them for new customer orders.

Commenting on the company’s investment in Melbourne, Amazon Australia’s Country Manager Janet Menzies said, “We’re proud to be making this significant investment in Victoria, creating around 2,000 job opportunities to support the local economy. These are the jobs of the future and offer the opportunity to work alongside advanced technology and earn competitive pay in a safe and positive work environment.”

“The site will also help connect Victorian customers to local small and medium sized businesses, enhancing delivery outcomes and selection for customers in the state. We chose Melbourne as the home of our first fulfilment centre when we launched in Australia in 2017, and the introduction of this state-of-the-art robotics fulfilment centre in the city’s north continues our commitment here.”

The Mayor of Hume City, Councilor, Joseph Haweil, said, “Hume City Council is proud to be advocating for an innovative industry that will support our economy and job security for locals long into the future. We appreciate the efforts of Amazon Australia and AustralianSuper in bringing this project to the Craigieburn Logistics Estate, which cements Melbourne’s north as a major player in Australia’s logistics industry.”

“The size and scale of this project is unparalleled in Hume City, as are its economic benefits to our locals. Not only will the Amazon Robotics fulfilment centre create thousands of jobs and ongoing opportunities for local businesses to expand their services nationwide, the cutting-edge technology used at the site will ensure our community reaps these economic benefits for years to come.”

AustralianSuper is the owner of the Craigieburn Logistics Estate which is managed and developed by LOGOS. Jason Peasley, Head of Mid Risk Portfolios, AustralianSuper said: “This is a very exciting development that will boost Australia’s logistics infrastructure and play a key role in opening up economic opportunities in this fast-growing area of Melbourne, providing jobs and generating long-term returns for AustralianSuper members.”

He added: “The Craigieburn Logistics Estate and Amazon Robotics fulfilment centre is a great example of AustralianSuper’s strategy to work with partners such as Amazon and LOGOS to invest members’ capital in building for the future uses of real estate and critical logistics infrastructure.”

LOGOS Head of Australia and New Zealand, Darren Searle, said: “We are proud to partner with Amazon and AustralianSuper to bring to life this specialised, high-tech logistics facility which endorses the local and state government’s investments in infrastructure in the north of Melbourne. Amazon’s new fulfilment centre will be the anchor of the 90-hectare Craigieburn Logistics Estate which is strategically located 23km north of Melbourne’s CBD within a state significant industrial precinct, benefiting from the future North East link and with access to key arterials. We look forward to supporting the community with an estimated 2,000 jobs that will be created during the two-year construction period.”

Excavation work has commenced on the site, which will be purpose built to meet Amazon’s requirements – with the lease for the centre facilitated by CBRE’s Industrial & Logistics Occupier business.

Amazon.com.au launched in Australia in December 2017 and now offers customers more than 200 million products across 31 categories, with selection continuing to grow. In 2022, Amazon launched Prime Free One-Day Delivery on eligible items for Prime members in the majority of postcodes in Sydney and Melbourne, with no minimum spend required. Amazon has empowered more than 14,000 Australian businesses, many of which are small and medium businesses, to reach customers around Australia and globally. Since 2011, Amazon has invested more than A$8.4 billion across all of its businesses in Australia. Amazon now has a local team of more than 7,000 employees across amazon.com.au, Amazon Web Services, Kindle, Audible, Alexa and Prime Video.

The Melbourne Robotics fulfilment centre will be Amazon’s sixth operations site in Melbourne, supporting the company’s existing fulfilment and logistics network in Victoria which includes fulfilment centres in Dandenong South and Ravenhall, Amazon’s first Australian standalone sort centre and two Amazon Logistics sites.