Wednesday 11th January was a significant day for Nolan Warehousing & Logistics marking the official opening its new €12 million, 150,000 sq.ft warehouse facility; which is phase one of five at the company’s 35-acre site just off of the Rosslare Road, Drinagh in County Wexford.
Another milestone was noted in that Nolan Transport, founded by Jimmy and his wife Joan (christened Johanna) in 1963 celebrates 60 years in business this year. Starting in 1963 with a single truck and milk collection trailer has grown to provide the full suite of Supply Chain services from Transportation, Warehousing, Customs and Systems to its customers. Today Nolan’s are one of Wexford’s leading employers with over 1,000 people and operating over 2,000 trailers and 700 trucks in its fleet.
With its main hub already operating out of New Ross, this is its second Wexford-based facility. In addition, it operates offices internationally in the UK, France, and Spain and this week also opens its new office in the Netherlands with further expansion plans into other European locations planned over the next 5 years.
The new global logistics park will house its warehousing services, specifically designed to facilitate its customer’s needs. At the event, guests were informed that the new facility is already in high demand with its global customers seeking out high-end warehousing requirements.
The warehouse facility has been constructed to meet international standards and offers a specialist wing for bioscience, clean room facilities and a containment wing. Additionally incorporating a sustainability plan, the building will be powered via solar roof panels coupled with in-built smart controls for energy. The company is also seeking options to add on railway connections and on-site wind turbines in the coming years.
The new warehouse is dedicated and named by the Nolan Family “Johanna 1 Building” in honour of their dear mother Joan, a strong woman and an inspiration to all involved who sadly passed away suddenly on 16 December 2022.
Commenting at the official opening event Noel Nolan, Director of the Warehousing Division of Nolan Transport said: “This first phase of our facility and €12 million development will initially create and sustain 30 Wexford jobs in phase one. I am very proud and excited about this venture. The ground floor measurement is 80,000 square feet with nine storeys of racking sitting within that space with 22,000 available pallet locations with a bespoke state-of-the-art design smart warehouse management system. This enables us to offer a complete end-to-end logistics and warehousing solution to suit a range of occupiers from SMEs to large manufacturing and distribution companies and we are delighted to have exchanged contracts with a number of international brands already.
As the UK and European markets continue to adapt their supply chain and distribution models following Brexit, the market is experiencing record levels of demand and take-up. The market circumstances coupled with our new facility and our 60-year-old Transportation Company, Nolan Transport means that we are ideally positioned to unlock opportunities to deliver high-quality and sustainable warehousing solutions, deliver more jobs and deliver more economic benefits for Wexford and the wider region all the while, working even more closely with Rosslare Europort with its new direct to Europe and its UK ferry operators. This is just phase one of five phases and we are already looking forward to continuing to re-invest in the region and build capacity for further job creation through the next development phases in our €50 Million anticipated sustainable development in our Wexford Global Logistics Park.
Nolan Transport is currently ISO credited and is status pending for Seveso licencing and full AEO Customs status which enables the company to work even more closely with international operators managing high-value goods, and offer a bonded warehousing service.
Special report and photos from the occasion will feature in the next edition of Fleet Transport