Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC) is a

sorting office A sorting office or processing and distribution center (P&DC; name used by the United States Postal Service (USPS)) is any location where postal operators bring mail after collection for sorting into batches for delivery to the addressee, which ...

for inbound and outbound international mail operated by

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

. Located close to

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

, the HWDC is situated in the town of

Langley Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfor ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

, near

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, ...

, and began operations in 2003. The centre is often referred to by its abbreviation, Langley HWDC, or as 'GBLALA' in mail tracking information. 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...

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 ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

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

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidston ...

, or container ship at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

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

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.

References

{{coord, 51, 29, 49, N, 0, 31, 56, W, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:400, display=title Royal Mail Government buildings completed in 2003 Buildings and structures in Slough

Sorting and dispatch process

See also

References