SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa’s E-Commerce retailer Takealot Group has embarked on the construction of a new distribution centre (DC) in Cape Town, expected to launch in August 2022.

The 24,000 sqm facility consists of 22,000 sqm of warehouse space and 2,000 sqm offices, designed to provide Takealot with expansion options to add an additional 50,000 sqm of warehousing to the initial phase.

The new DC is sustainably designed and will feature a dedicated solar PV installation, energy-efficient lighting systems, a rainwater harvesting system and water-saving xeriscape landscaping.

The cross-dock facility will provide clear racking height of up to 18 metres and specialised floors.

The new DC, located in Richmond Park’s northern precinct, will be less than a kilometre from the customer centre in the retail-focused southern precinct of the park.

It is also a couple of kilometres from the Takealot large logistics centre in nearby Montague Park, reinforcing the online retailers’ presence in the area.

In addition, a 6,700 sqm Takealot Customer Collection Centre, which includes expansion opportunities with the potential to grow to 17,000 sqm, is also under construction at Richmond Park.

The Customer Collection Centre will be ready for Takealot to begin trading in March 2022, reports Business Tech.

Other than Takealot, South African retail chain owner Pick n Pay, entered into an agreement with real estate investment company, Fortress, mid this year to establish one of the massive logistics centres in the country.

The project is 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.

Meanwhile, 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.

Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE