Royal Mail’s international exports increased this Christmas with Australia being the mostpopular international destination.
Throughout November and December, Royal Mail’s Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre has beenhandling over 600,000 packets a day so far with gifts and online orders for destinations around theglobe. This is almost double the amount on an average day during the rest of the year.
According to the company’s figures, most international parcels have been sent to Australiaduring the pre-holiday period showing a 31% increase year-on-year, followed by Greece and Finlandwith 21% and 20% respectively. Netherlands is ranked the fourth with 20% as well, followed byFrance with 19% and Denmark with 10%. Other popular international destinations include USA with9.8%, Switzerland with 9.5%, Italy with 7% and Spain with 6.9%.
Nick Landon, Royal Mail’s Managing Director of Fulfilment and Packets, said: “UK online andcatalogue retailers are seizing on new international market opportunities at the busiest tradingtime of the year. Not only has online shopping become increasingly popular for people buyingChristmas presents in the UK, our retailers are in demand with people overseas.”
Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre site is 100,000 sqm in size, with a floor area of 40,000sqm which is around the size of six football pitches. The purpose built Packet Sorting Machineutilises voice hybrid technology and has the capability to handle up to 20,000 items per hour.There are seven miles of conveyor systems installed to transport trays across the unit.
