Goulburn overlooked in Coles' search

The high-tech warehouse will be one of two to replace five current distribution centres, including Goulburn’s.

Coles announced on Thursday that it would invest $950 million to construct the 70,000 square metre facilities at Kemps Creek in outer Sydney and at Redbank, Brisbane.

In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, the supermarket chain said it had signed contracts with Witron Australia Pty Ltd to automate the centres. It has also entered into a 20-year lease with a Goodman and Brickworks joint venture to build the Kemps Creek facility.

The decision has dashed any hope that Goulburn could host an automated DC. Cr Kirk had pushed for this following news of the Goulburn DC’s closure within five years.

But Coles’ executive management told Cr Kirk, general manager Warwick Bennett, Hume MP Angus Taylor, Goulburn MP Pru Goward and Chamber of Commerce president Mark Bradbury in a meeting last November that Goulburn was not a viable option for the new centre.

On Thursday a Coles spokesman told the Post that Kemps Creek was chosen to minimise delivery times to stores and the number of kilometres driven by delivery vehicles.

“Locating the NSW DC outside of the greater Sydney area would greatly increase costs, driving hours, delivery times, fuel usage and resultant carbon emissions,” he said.

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Cr Kirk said he was not surprised by the decision, but that it did nothing to address the community impact of losing 250 to 300 jobs from the current centre. These include DC workers and Linfox delivery drivers.

“That’s something we need to look at,” he said.

“Someone will have a big empty space up there (in Ducks Lane). It would be interesting to hear what the owners of the building have planned and whether it will create employment. I look forward to hearing from them.”

The mayor said it was also unclear when Goulburn’s centre would close.

A Coles spokesman said no timeline had been decided yet. However the company’s chief supply chain officer Matt Swindells told the Sydney Morning Herald the automated centres would take five years to bring online.

Coles has described the new facilities as a key element of its supply chain modernisation strategy.

“This will provide a safer working environment for our team members, lower supply chain costs, enhance our overall business competitiveness and make life easier for our customers by having the right offer in the right location,” Coles CEO Steven Cain said.

It’s understood some jobs from the five closed DCs could be accommodated in the new centres, but it’s not clear how many.

Local moves are afoot to develop transition programs for the employees.

In November, Coles representatives also said they were open to considering early redundancies for staff who wanted to move on now. 

While uncertainty surrounds these workers, other employment prospects are on the near horizon.

Cr Kirk said the new $35m Tribe Brewery at South Goulburn was not far off active testing. 

The first beers in the 30m-litre annual output could be produced in coming months.

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