Bridgestone Extending Belgium Logistic Centre

To support the growth of the company’s European business and better service customers across the continent, Bridgestone has decided to further extend the supply chain operations at its North European Logistic Centre in Zeebrugge. The extension also provides scope for the future addition of value added services such as tyre mounting.

The extension will be realised in two phases: Phase 1 involves the construction of an 18,000 square metre warehouse on three hectares of land, with an investment of 7 million euros. Depending on building permits and administrational procedures, the plan could be finalised as early as the third quarter of 2009. Phase 2, for which an option has been taken on a further 3.68 hectares of land, involves the construction of an additional 20,000 square metre warehouse and an investment of around 7 million euros.

On completion of both phases, and when operations are working to full capacity, the extension project will create 40 additional jobs at the Zeebrugge facility. Since its opening in 1998, the North European Logistic Centre has already been extended twice, these additions carried out in an effort, says Bridgestone, to streamline distribution to dealer networks in the Benelux, Germany, France, the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia. The company adds that the growing Zeebrugge shortsea network of both RoRo and LoLo services has been instrumental in the achievement of its growth ambitions.

The Bridgestone ELC in Zeebrugge currently employs 140 people and has a maximum storage capacity of 1.1 million tyres in the existing nine hectares of warehouses. In 2007, incoming and outgoing volumes represented 32,740 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) from and to overseas and shortsea destinations, and 7,200 road haulage units from and to the company’s European network.