JOC Staff | Dec 10, 2012 9:53AM EST
Duisport, the German port operator, is building car maker Audi’s largest logistics hub in the port of Duisburg for the export of auto parts, mainly to China and India.
The 800,000-square-meter facility in the world’s biggest inland port, costing around $32.5 million and creating 500 jobs, is scheduled to open in the late summer of 2013.
Vehicle components for Audi models will be shipped in containers by barge and rail to the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam for onward maritime transportation to the car company’s overseas markets.
Duisport is building the new Audi facility on the Logport 11 logistics area directly on the river Rhine for Schnellecke Logistics, which will handle Audi’s CKD (completely knocked down) logistics.
Duisport, which bested German rivals in a national competition for the Audi contract, is also taking over integrated logistics and transport services for the Volkswagen subsidiary.
“Duisport is asserting itself as a logistics turntable and value added platform for the automotive sector,” said Eirch Staake, CEO of Duisburg port.
Duisport boosted container traffic by 10 percent in 2011 from the previous year to a record 2.5 million 20-foot-equivalent units. Total truck, barge and rail traffic rose by 12 million metric tons to 125.6 million tons. Duisport’s volume grew by 10 million tons to 64 million tons.