Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC) is a
sorting office for inbound and outbound international mail operated by
Royal Mail. Located close to
Heathrow Airport, the HWDC is situated in the town of
Langley,
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
, near
Slough, and began operations in 2003. The centre is often referred to by its abbreviation, Langley HWDC, or as 'GBLALA' in mail tracking information.
Sorting office
Most mail entering and leaving the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
is sorted at Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre under tight aviation security standards, following the closure of all other international mail handling facilities in the UK. Parcelforce Worldwide operates two hubs based at
Coventry
Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
adjacent to the airport. One hub is for parcels for the United Kingdom, and the other for international parcels. Not all mail handled at HWDC arrives by air, as road vehicles that formerly arrived in the UK by ferry at the
Port of Dover, or container ship at the
Port of Southampton now extend their trip to HWDC by road, instead of entering the Royal Mail network at (now defunct) offices of exchange situated nearest the ports. Outbound mail will usually leave the country by aircraft from the nearby
Heathrow Airport.
Sorting and dispatch process
HWDC is one of the most automated postal centres in Europe, and the site covers 100,000 square metres (25 acres) (10 hectares).
Automated conveyor systems transport trays of mail to automated mail processing equipment and manual or special handling workstations. The conveyors read the bar code labels on the trays and then transport them to the desired destination. When the mail is sorted on the automated mail sorting equipment, the letter destination image is lifted by high speed optical cameras. Both inbound and outbound mail are then automatically sorted into groups.
Mail which is departing by air transport is often conveyed in
unit load devices, unique to airlines and/or fuselage shapes. Upon arrival, specialised floor conveyors manipulate containers to support their manual loading. Frequently used containers are stored on site in a specialised automated storage and retrieval system. The scheduling of container arrival, loading, and dispatch is sequenced with flight arrival and departures.
See also
*
Royal Mail Mount Pleasant Sorting Office
References
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Royal Mail
Government buildings completed in 2003
Buildings and structures in Slough