Amazon has announced it has started shipping items to customers from its new fulfilment centre in Baldonnel, the first of its kind in Ireland, creating 500 new jobs. Amazon’s new investment in Ireland will help provide faster delivery for customers across the country seven days a week, including one-day delivery on hundreds of thousands of items. The 630,000 square foot centre at Baldonnell Business Park will hold millions of items to be picked, packed and shipped to customers across the island of Ireland and the rest of Europe. The fulfilment centre joins the two Amazon delivery stations, based in Rathcoole and Ballycoolin, to open in the Republic of Ireland. The team marked the opening of the Baldonnell site with a social event and celebrations to welcome the new employees through the doors.
The introduction of the first fulfilment centre in Ireland builds on Amazon’s presence in Ireland after opening the first Amazon office in Ireland in September 2004. In April 2006, Amazon opened a Customer Service Centre in Cork, and in November 2007, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched its first infrastructure region outside of the US in Ireland. Since this time, AWS has continued to invest in Ireland and the impact of its investments today supports 8,700 jobs directly and indirectly and generates growth in economic output of €1.45 billion a year.
Jack Crane is part of the new team in Baldonnell and was the first person to pick and pack a customer order from the site. The first order, a laptop stand and a connector for a computer monitor, was picked and packed at the fulfilment centre before making its way to the Amazon delivery station in Rathcoole. The parcel was then sorted at the delivery station and loaded onto a delivery van, which was driven by Hilary Redmond, an independent contractor engaged by Jetline Logistics Ltd to deliver Amazon parcels, to the home of Alex Dobinson in South Dublin. Alex is the first customer in Ireland to receive an order from the new Amazon fulfilment centre. Alex said “It was great to receive the first package from the new Amazon fulfilment centre in Dublin and meet some of the team. We will definitely be ordering again in the future!”
Jack Crane, who works at Amazon’s new fulfilment centre as a picker, said “I’m proud to be part of the new team here at Amazon in Dublin and I’m excited for the great things we’re going to achieve together. It’s fantastic to be part of a company that’s delivering for customers in Ireland while also offering many training and development opportunities for employees in a safe and modern environment.”
Darragh Kelly, General Manager at Amazon’s fulfilment centre in Dublin, said “As a proud Irishman, it’s an honour to lead the opening of our first ever fulfilment centre on the island of Ireland. Our new fulfilment centre will provide customers across Ireland with faster delivery times while creating hundreds of roles across a wide range of disciplines including engineering, HR, IT, health & safety, finance and operations management. It’s an exciting time to be a part of the Amazon team in Dublin and I’m looking forward to the weeks and months ahead as we grow our team and deliver for our customers.”
For further information on working at Amazon see www.amazon.jobs/en-gb/location/dublin-ireland.
Pic Credit: Karl Hussey
