On the 6th of May 2021, Massmart officially opened its new Distribution Centre in the Brackengate 2 precinct, in Brackenfell, Cape Town. This marks the completion of the construction project which began in October 2019.
The new state of the art facility features an eye-catching curved and seamless roof, measuring over 60,000m2. Under the roof, the DC is customized to suit Massmart’s needs with innovative modular mezzanine racking, allowing for easy expansion of picking areas to accommodate varying stock demand. With a capacity of 53,000m2, this is the second largest DC in the Massmart group, and a significant upgrade from the previous Airport DC that had a capacity of 19,500m2.
Sustainability is a core priority in any Massmart facility and the Brackengate campus makes maximum use of natural light, energy saving LED lights with motion sensors, and a built-in retention pond for rainwater harvesting. This pond will generate water from air, daily, using atmospheric water generators. In addition to this, water-wise plants have been selected for the facility to further reduce water consumption.
“This new facility is a key milestone in the journey we are on, to build a truly end-to-end supply chain that serves our stores and customers in the best possible way. A special mention must be made to the key contractors who have been involved in the construction of this facility, and our landlords at the site – Redefine Properties and VDMV Property Holdings.” said Martin Halle, Massmart’s Group Supply Chain Vice-President.
“I am proud of the smooth transition we were able to make by ending operations at our Airport DC and switching on operations at our new Brackengate site in a matter of days,” he added.
Pending the launch of new systems, Brackengate DC will be the first of Massmart’s product-based distribution centres, which will see facilities distributing specific products to all Massmart trading banners from a single point.
