MHD SUPPLY CHAIN
ACCELERATING THE MOVEMENT OF GOODS C.H. Robinson recently opened a new facility at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport as part of its continuing expansion in Oceania. MHD catches up with Andrew Coldrey, Vice President Oceania at the company to find out more.
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ne of the world’s largest logistics platforms, C.H. Robinson, is on a significant growth trajectory. The business is investing heavily in the Asia Pacific region to ensure it is well placed to meet the growing demands of its customers. Late last year, Bob Biesterfeld, CEO at C.H. Robinson, announced the company’s largest investment in innovation and technology to date. He revealed that C.H. Robinson will invest $1 billion USD in technology over the next five years, doubling its previous investment of the same amount every ten years. According to Andrew Coldrey, Vice President Oceania at C.H. Robinson, the new purpose-built facility at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport is an example of C.H. Robinson’s investment in its future growth in this region. “We had outgrown our previous facility and we wanted to expand the services that we offer to our clients. This new facility has enabled us to significantly improve our throughput for our ocean and air customers across this region,” Andrew says. C.H. Robinson’s previous facility handled inbound air freight, but was struggling to manage the outbound freight, Andrew says. “It was tight, and we couldn’t do much with our coastal shipping offering or have the opportunity for the more flexible and specialised solutions we offer our customers,” he says. The facility is just over 5,000 sqm, with the warehouse approximately 4,000 sqm in size and the rest used for office space. The site is a multi-user site and features a number of different types of cargo and customers and will handle freight for approximately 30 per cent of C.H. Robinson’s Oceania customers. 30 | MHD MAY 2020
The new facility is just over 5,000 sqm, with the warehouse approximately 4,000 sqm.