SOUTH AFRICA – South African retail chain, Pick n Pay, has entered into an agreement with real estate investment company, Fortress, to establish one of the massive logistics centres in the country.
The project will be undertaken at Fortress’s flagship premium-grade Eastport Logistics Park, close to ORT Airport in Gauteng, to cover 36 hectares of state-of-the art infrastructure.
Pieter Boon, CEO of Pick N Pay indicated that the investment in the new inland distribution centre will give the company a competitive advantage.
“Fortress’s Eastport facility will help us deliver key logistics and supply chain innovations, achieving efficiencies and growing market share at a time when faster and cheaper service of our stores has never been more important to deliver on our customer promise of low prices and reliable service,” said Boon.
The agreement between the parties is in a form of a long-term lease agreement, with an option to enable Pick n Pay to extend it, as well as grow the size and footprint of the facility.
Pick N Pay will acquire 60% of the development, with Fortress ultimately owning 40% of the new inland distribution site, once the sub-division has been approved and the transfer completed.
“Fortress’s Eastport facility will help us deliver key logistics and supply chain innovations, achieving efficiencies and growing market share at a time when faster and cheaper service of our stores has never been more important to deliver on our customer promise of low prices and reliable service.”
Pieter Boon – CEO of Pick N Pay
Fortress will fund the incremental capital required for the development from existing available facilities. The development is scheduled for completion in 2023.
The announcement comes days after Walmart owned retailer, Massmart, launched its newly built state-of-the-art Distribution Centre (DC) in Brackenfell, Cape Town, featuring an eye-catching curved and seamless roof, measuring over 60 000m2.
Under the roof, the DC is customized to suit Massmart’s needs with innovative modular mezzanine racking, allowing for easy expansion of picking areas to accommodate varying stock demand.
With a capacity of 53 000m2, this is the second largest DC in the Massmart group, and a significant upgrade from the previous Airport DC that had a capacity of 19,500 m2.
Sustainability is a core priority in any Massmart facility and the Brackengate campus makes maximum use of natural light and energy saving LED lights with motion sensors.
It also has a built-in retention pond for rainwater harvesting. The pond will also generate water from air, daily, using atmospheric water generators.
In addition to this, water-wise plants have been selected for the facility to further reduce water consumption.
Brackengate DC is the first of Massmart’s product-based distribution centres, which will see facilities distributing specific products to all Massmart trading banners from a single point.