NYK Logistics (UK) Ltd has opened a new 330,000 sq ft distribution centre in Wellingborough to house its activities on behalf of a major customer.

Located on a 25 acre site on the Park Farm Industrial Estate, NYK has invested £1 million in converting the former Somerfield distribution centre into a high quality, modern warehousing facility.

Following months of careful planning, approximately 5,000 pallets of the customer's product have been transferred from NYK's Grange Park distribution complex in Northampton to the new site at Wellingborough, with a seamless transition resulting in no disruption to service levels.

110 NYK staff from the existing operation at Grange Park have also been transferred to the Wellingborough site, which is expected to provide additional employment opportunities when it reaches full operational capacity.

The existing operation will occupy approximately 70% of the site and work on the second phase, which will provide a further 85,000 sq ft of high quality, speculative warehousing space is scheduled for completion in November 2007.

The new site takes the total number of NYK sites in and around Northamptonshire to eight, providing more than 1.6 million sq ft of warehousing space to a portfolio of blue-chip companies.

With its headquarters at Grange Park in Northampton, NYK Logistics (UK) Ltd is one of the UK's fastest growing logistics companies, employing 5,500 people nationwide, more than a quarter of them in and around Northamptonshire.

NYK Logistics' MD - Operations, Paul Kavanagh said: "Northamptonshire is the 'engine room' of the UK logistics industry and is at the heart of NYK's business. The new site at Wellingborough represents a major investment by NYK and a sign of our commitment to our customers and our confidence in the continued demand for high quality warehousing in the area, as well as providing high quality employment opportunities for local people."