Woolworths Moorebank RDC nominated for sustainable warehouse award

Woolworths Group has opened its new Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) in Western Sydney, completing its Moorebank Logistics Precinct.

The $1.3 billion precinct is Woolworths Group’s “single biggest investment” and includes both the new Sydney RDC and the recently opened National Distribution Centre (NDC), which are co-located at Moorebank.

Woolworths says the two facilities will move over five million cartons each week to more than 1,000 stores across Australia, covering a range of 20,000 individual products.

The company says the facilities will support improved product availability and enable new products to arrive faster on shelves, particularly during peak seasonal periods.

The Moorebank Logistics Precinct includes direct links to Port Botany, interstate rail and Sydney’s M5 and M7 motorways.

The automated facilities are designed to move food, grocery and everyday items onto shelves faster, with pallets arriving in store “aisle-ready”, suited to individual store layouts.

Woolworths says this is intended to support faster restocking by store teams.

In total, the two distribution centres cover 75,000 square metres of floor space.

The investment has also supported local employment, with Woolworths saying the project created more than 1,300 jobs during the construction phase and will employ around 800 team members in ongoing operational roles across the two facilities.

The precinct was officially opened by the Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon Catherine King MP, alongside Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci.

“The challenges of the past year have put a spotlight on the critical role our distribution centres play in providing the essential food and everyday needs Australian communities rely on,” says Brad.

“To keep pace with growing demand and ever evolving customer expectations, we need to continue to invest in new technology and capacity to power our next generation supply chain.”

Brad says the investment will give the retailer greater flexibility to expand its in-store offering by easing existing capacity constraints across its distribution network.

“We have ambitions to offer a more tailored range of products in our stores. This has traditionally been constrained by what we can hold in our distribution centres,” he says.

“Once both centres are up and running, we’ll be able to carry up to 8,000 additional products in our range than we can in our existing facilities. This will help unlock a much better shopping experience for our customers.”

Both distribution centres have achieved a 5-star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. Ben Newton, Primary Connect General Manager of Strategy, Development and Partnerships says sustainability was part of the precinct’s core strategy since its inception.

“Key goals included achieving a 5-star Green Star rating and building in features like solar power and rainwater harvesting from the start,” he says. “Crucially, the centre is located next to port and interstate rail, which is a strategic move to shift freight from road to rail, cutting transport emissions and replacing older, less efficient facilities.”

Ben says the project’s sustainability targets include an estimated “35 per cent reduction in operational emissions through solar panels, LED lighting, and rainwater harvesting.”

He says the precinct’s solar system is expected to generate “5.3 megawatts of energy annually,” providing approximately 25 per cent of the NDC’s electricity. Rainwater harvesting is used for irrigation, truck washing, and flushing toilets.

The precinct’s design also supports lower transport emissions through its proximity to port and rail infrastructure. Ben says the direct rail connection is “a cornerstone of the project’s sustainability advantages,” supporting emissions reduction targets by shifting freight from road to rail. He says the network redesign is expected to remove “an estimated 23,000 truck movements from the roads annually,” enabled through the precinct’s strategic location, co-location of the NDC and RDC, and an airbridge connection that reduces truck movements between the two facilities.

Beyond renewable energy, the precinct has been designed to support electrification. Ben says the site includes more than 40 electric vehicle charging bays and has been provisioned for heavy vehicle charging. Since go-live, he says Woolworths has implemented a 960kW charger with six bays for EV prime movers and tugs, and that three EV tugs are already operating out of Moorebank using the charger.

Solar generation is integrated into day-to-day distribution centre operations. Ben says “on a typical day, the solar generated can provide up to a third of the site’s demand for the entire day,” with excess capacity available during peak solar generation to support operations during high-demand trading periods. He says energy usage and solar generation are monitored through connected systems, supported by Woolworths’ Energy Management Centre, which tracks electricity use in real time to identify peaks, patterns, and unexpected spikes.

Automation also contributes to sustainability outcomes beyond productivity. Ben says the new RDC provides “50 per cent more capacity on a 12 per cent smaller physical footprint,” improving land-use efficiency and reducing energy needs per pallet. He says automation reduces “damage & shrinkage,” helping minimise stock-related waste, while high-bay storage operates as a “lights-out environment,” meaning these areas do not require lighting compared to traditional warehousing. Woolworths says the RDC is designed to handle packaged groceries and health and beauty products, supporting faster receiving, sorting and dispatch to stores.