TORONTO, Ont. — The morning after Toronto’s first snowfall, it was only fitting Purolator held the official opening of its new state-of-the-art terminal in the city, part of the company’s network expansion that will help process an estimated 35 million packages this holiday season.

The terminal – the first of five new facilities across Canada – is a complement to Purolator’s national super hub, which it announced in June 2019 and is planned to open in 2021. The company is expected to announce additional phases of its network expansion in 2020.

According to John Ferguson, Purolator’s president and CEO, who was on hand for the opening along with Toronto Mayor John Tory, the expansion will increase capacity, speed and consumer convenience and help the company prepare for future growth.

“We are making generational investments today to revolutionize the customer experience of tomorrow,” said Ferguson. “These investments are a direct reflection of our commitment to support businesses and consumers through dynamic market changes and meet their evolving expectations in a hyper-connected world. Our growth plan will position Purolator extremely well to meet historic volume levels and support even more businesses shipping to, from and within Canada over the long term.”

Tory was enthused that the new facility is home to 200 full-time jobs, with the potential for more in the future, including some of the 1,000 new employees Purolator says it will need this peak season.

“Purolator is Canada’s leading transportation company and I’m so pleased they are investing and expanding in Toronto, where their roots began almost 60 years ago,” said Tory. “These investments will create and sustain jobs, growth and innovation that will fuel the future competitiveness of our city. Their network expansion plans will make it easier for businesses and consumers to connect in an e-commerce driven world and provide even more speed, convenience and sustainability for people shipping goods to, from and within Toronto.”

The announcement is part of the company’s $1 billion “Delivering the Future” growth and innovation plan, which includes investments in network and fleet expansion, job creation and an unprecedented increase in consumer access points.

Purolator said it will expand its consumer access points to more than 1,000 locations across Canada with leading innovations, including Canada’s first self-serve kiosk, parcel lockers and a partnership with stackt, Canada’s largest shipping container market located at 28 Bathurst Street in Toronto. Purolator is also partnering with Canadian Tire to establish Mobile Quick Stops trucks at 18 Canadian Tire locations to provide consumers, online retailers and businesses exceptional convenience and customer service when shipping and picking up packages.

With the busiest week of the year, Black Friday and the week of Cyber Monday on the horizon, Purolator said it expects to process more than five million pieces the week of Cyber Monday and over 35 million parcels leading up to the holiday season.

Last year, shipments to Ontario represented approximately 38% of Purolator’s Canadian business volume – with almost half (46%) delivered to the GTA, where the company has 4,000 employees, 1,400 vehicles and 13 terminals.