Southampton: Christmas comes early for Import Services

 

Christmas may still be some months away but one warehouse in Southampton is already gearing up for the seasonal spending spree with this year’s hottest toys already arriving from the Far East.

 

September is one of the busiest months for toy imports as the supply chain prepares for the Christmas market, and this year it’s busier than ever before at Import Services.

 

The Southampton-based logistics company has just opened a new warehouse extension at its dockside facility – perfectly timed for the Christmas rush.

 

Client services director Mike Thomas said the warehouse is operating 24 hours a day and the increased capacity is already filling with the Christmas toy imports.

 

“Our previous capacity of 40,000 pallets has increased to 53,000 pallets and already much of this space is filling fast as the Christmas products arrive,’’ he said.

 

“Our container port facility is the only one of its kind in the UK and this expansion in co-operation with ABP Southampton has been designed to meet increased demand for moving imported product quickly from ship to warehouse.’’

 

He said key products for the Christmas market include the Xeno and a return of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figurines.

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At the moment the warehouse is processing around 10,000 items a week ready for onward delivery to a wide range of retailers from Amazon, Argos and Tesco to John Lewis, Harrods and increasingly direct to consumers at home.