Irish parcel carrier Nightline has opened a dedicated depot to service its Parcel Motel
terminals due to growing demand from Irish online shoppers while eight of the company’s 11 sites
across the country will also become alternative parcel pick-up points for those shoppers who
subscribed to the Parcel Motel system.
The new 2,800 sqm depot will be located at Dublin’s North City Business Park and will have three
times the number of workstations to process goods for delivery to Parcel Motel lockers than the
system had been able to call on at Nightline’s Mygan Park headquarters.
Orla Sheils, Parcel Motel General Manager, described the new “Parcel Motel HQ” as a “logical
response” to the continuously growing e-commerce volumes.
“Ireland may not be among Europe’s largest states but its consumers are some of the continent’s
most eager online shoppers,” she commented. “Parcel Motel was launched in order to provide
flexibility, convenience and economy in deliveries of goods bought via the internet. As the number
of those items is still rising, we understood the need to put even more capacity in place,
including a depot solely processing parcels destined for lockers across the country.”
She added: “We have plans to further expand provision in order to ensure that retailers have the
ability to fulfill orders without delays even during the pre-Christmas peak – the busiest time of
the year.”
Along with the new site, Nightline has established facilities to allow consumers to collect
packages directly from Nightline’s premises in Athlone, Tralee, Waterford, Sligo, Cork, Galway and
Limerick rather than from a Parcel Motel terminal, to cope with the rising demand for additional
pick-up locations.
Last year, more than 150,000 individuals had subscribed to the system and had used it to handle
more than 1.5 million parcels, which more than doubles the volumes processed via the lockers during
the previous 12 months, Sheils revealed.
According to figures from e-commerce analysts, Ireland has become western Europe’s fourth
biggest online marketplace. Irish online shoppers spent €4.6 billion with internet retailers during
2013.
