Global online retail giant Amazon will establish its first dedicated Australian sort centre in Melbourne, creating hundreds of new jobs and building the strength of Victoria’s logistics sector.

Minister for Economic Development Tim Pallas today joined Amazon leaders in Craigieburn to announce the new purpose-built centre which will support 200 ongoing jobs, including employment for workers under the Jobs Victoria initiative.

The specialist centre will sort picked-and-packed customer orders by final destination, then ship them to logistics sites for “last mile” delivery to customers.

Work has started on building the new facility which at 15,600 square metres will be close to the size of the MCG playing surface. Some 700 jobs will be created during construction, which is due to be completed this year.

The centre will be Amazon’s fifth site in Melbourne to open since the company’s arrival in Victoria in 2017, joining centres in Dandenong South, Mulgrave, Ravenhall and Tullamarine. More than 1,500 people currently work in Amazon’s businesses in Victoria.

Located in Melbourne’s fast-growing northern region, the sort centre sits within Goodman Group’s Amaroo Business Park, which is a key link to the adjacent Craigieburn North Employment Area, a state-significant industrial and commercial precinct of just under 500 hectares.

Invest Victoria, the Andrews Labor Government’s investment attraction agency, facilitated the investment by helping the company to identify the site and understand regulatory requirements.

The investment shows that the Labor Government’s International Investment Strategy is attracting global companies from growth industries crucial to creating jobs in Victoria.

More than 550,000 jobs have been created in Victoria since the Government was elected in November 2014.

Victoria’s logistics sector, which includes transport, postal and warehousing industries, contributes more than $21 billion to the state’s economy, directly employing almost 170,000 people.