Amazon has revealed their plans to open two new warehouses in the Ontario province. One of them will be based in Ajax (YOO1) and the other one in Mount Hope (YHM1). The Ajax facility will be built near the Salem and Rossland roads intersection at 789 Salem Rd N, Ajax, L1Z 0J2. The Mount Hope fulfillment centre will be located at 110 Aeropark Blvd, Mount Hope, ON, L0R 1W0. According to Amazon FBA program, the new facilities are expected to open in September 2021. It’s projected to bring more than 2,500 new permanent positions to Ajax and Mount Hope combined.
Amazon claims that employees will be getting industry-leading wages, medical, vision and dental insurance, pension plan contribution, and performance-based bonuses. Amazon also advertises to prospective employees that they will be able to participate in the various developmental programs, including the initiative called Career Choice, which pays up to 95% of tuition for training courses in virtually any field chosen by the worker.
Ajax fulfillment centre (YOO1) will have one-million square-feet of storage space, and it will be able to process oversized items like furniture, bicycles, kayaks, fitness equipment and various large household articles.
Mount Hope facility (YHM1) is expected to have 855,00 square-feet of storage space. This warehouse will heavily utilize industrial robots that would help employees prepare goods for shipping. The facility will process small goods like electronic devices, books, little kitchen stuff, toys etc. In addition, a 50,000 square foot delivery station will be built in Stoney Creek, and it will power the last mile of Amazon’s order fulfillment process. The delivery station will accept packages arriving from Amazon warehouse and sortation centres and then load them into trucks for delivery to customers.
Upon completion of Ajax and Mount Hope warehouses, there will be 10 FBA fulfillment centres in Ontario. As a result, Amazon FBA Canada will have 16 warehouses in total. With the addition of the new warehouse space, there is a hope for sellers that Amazon will relax its strict inventory storage limits introduced in the beginning of the pandemic. Now there will be more opportunities for Amazon sellers to ship goods from China and other countries directly to FBA Canada.
Amazon FBA in Canada entered the market in 2002. Since then, Amazon’s workforce has grown to 13,500 people, including both low and high-skilled workers. The company employs people in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, and Manitoba.