On April 10th, 2014, Benteler Distribution Germany celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony of its new central warehouse complex in the Port of Duisburg. The event marked the symbolic start of the building’s construction. From 2015, the warehousing and processing company of steel tubes will have a central warehouse with a storage area of 35,000 square meters offering space for more than 20,000 tons of tubes. “The central warehouse will help us to optimize our logistics structure and processes. Customers will benefit from higher product availability, shorter delivery times and bundled deliveries; suppliers from a central point of delivery and more efficient processes“, explained Reinhild Schmidt, Managing Director of Benteler Distribution Germany GmbH & Co. KG, in the context of the event. 200 guests attended the groundbreaking ceremony with great interest, among them representatives of the property owner (Duisburger Hafen AG), construction partners and neighboring companies as well as employees of the sites in Duisburg and Ratingen. The new, around 15,000 square meter complex will offer additional space for more than 10,000 tons of tubes. The Duisburger Hafen AG has provided a property in close vicinity to the existing complex for this. Both sites will make up the central warehouse. “The new complex will be equipped with Europe’s biggest honeycomb storage system with a height of 25 meters and 10,000 cassettes. It will guarantee an efficient management of stocks”, described Roger Gähler, project leader of the central warehouse. Dr. Jost A. Massenberg, CEO of Benteler Distribution International GmbH, stressed in his speech: “Germany is not only home of our group; Benteler Distribution Germany is also one of our biggest and most important local subsidiaries. Thus, we are pleased about the investment in the central warehouse, which will strengthen the competitiveness of Benteler Distribution Germany.” Erich Staake, Chief Executive Officer of Duisburger Hafen AG, welcomed Benteler Distribution Germany’s choice of location: “The company’s decision to expand its activities and to establish its central warehouse in Duisburg proves the attractiveness of the location and its importance as the leading logistics hub in Central Europe.“ The good infrastructure of the Port of Duisburg and the perfect location of the property were decisive criteria for establishing the central warehouse there. The first tubes are supposed to leave the central warehouse in the second quarter of 2015.