THE Mildura-based operation of a multinational company will spend about a billion dollars in the region over the next 10 years after a grant to expand its operations was announced by the Victorian Government on Wednesday.
The investment, which is part of the Victorian Government’s Regional Jobs Fund, will allow GTS Freight Management group (GTS) to redevelop its head office at its warehousing operation on Benetook Avenue.
GTS managing director Damien Matthews said the new head office would secure company operations for at least another decade and expand its local workforce by about one-third.
“We have 8 per cent of our volume (here) in Mildura and we were weighing up if we were going to go to a capital city, which is 92 per cent of our volume,” Mr Matthews said.
“Now the grant has allowed us to build our head office here in Mildura right on this property. Our spend will stay here and in the next decade, we will spend around a billion dollars.
“This grant will allow us to create a minimum of another 50 jobs, but it looks like it’d be more like 100.”
Minister for Regional Development Mary-Anne Thomas visited the Mildura facility of GTS, which began operating in 2019 and now uses autonomous (robot) forklifts to help pick and pack orders shipped to domestic customers such as Coles, Woolworths, CUB and Treasury Wine Estates.
GTS manages 150 modern prime movers and 450 trailers nation-wide. The Mildura logistics centre handles most of the horticulture produced each year in the region – which accounts for more than 93.5 per cent of Victoria’s grapes and more than 86 per cent of citrus.
Ms Thomas said the expansion of operations would be a boost for the regional economy.
“Here in this Sunraysia district 12 per cent of all of Australia’s horticulture is produced,” Ms Thomas said. “And so what we can see here is that many of those grapes are turned into some fabulous wines. And they all need to be sold right around Australia.
“These innovative projects are a big win for the Mildura community, creating more jobs and making sure these successful businesses can stay local – boosting the economy.”
Meanwhile, another 20 jobs are set to be created after family-owned manufacturing company DWM Engineering (DWM) also received support via the Regional Jobs Fund.
DWM will use the grant to build a new structural steel fabrication workshop at its Irymple base, allowing it to add to its existing 10 staff.
The new facility, at 12,000 metres squared, will be six times bigger than the current workshop, with DWM managing director Dean Matulick saying the additional staff will be brought on “in the next two or three years”.
With demand stretching from Swan Hill up to Broken Hill and across to Adelaide and the Barossa Valley, Mr Matulick said the grant would help his company service the steady demand for work in the region.
“If there’s anything holding us back at the moment it’s the size of our premises,” he said.
