Belgian multinational company Katoen Natie opens a new logistics terminal in Tarragona

Tarragona (ACN).- Katoen Natie, a Belgian multinational company specialising in logistics and distribution, opened its new terminal built in the Entrevies industrial area, in Tarragona. The logistics company has been present in Tarragona since 1998, when it built a large warehouse in Constantí in which it has already invested €60 million. However, more space was needed. Katoen Natie wanted to increase its activity and continue operating from southern Catalonia. The logistics company invested a further €10 million to open a new terminal in a plot of land, which is near Spain’s main chemical cluster, railways, highways, an airport, and an important sea port. In addition, the Belgian multinational has announced they might invest another €40 million in the project over the next 2 years. In fact, the President of Katoen Natie, Fernand Huts, said that Tarragona might become “Spain’s logistics capital” once the European standard width railway connects the city’s port and industrial areas with Central Europe.

“The port is to a very high standard, but now the railway connection is missing” said Huts during the presentation of Katoen Natie’s new logistics terminal in Tarragona which was held at the city’s Chamber of Commerce. The company began its activity from Tarragona in 1998 and currently more than one hundred people work at their facilities. From this Catalan city, the Belgian multinational makes 75% of its total turnover in Spain, which was €20 million in 2011. The company also has facilities in Santander and Madrid. The company began 150 years ago working on cotton derivates, hence its name (“cotton’ in Flemish). Currently Katoen Natie is present in 30 countries worldwide and has around 10,000 workers. Its warehouses occupy almost 5 million square metres and the company’s turnover is around €1 billion.

Five years ago the company realised it needed more space, since the 12 hectares occupied by the previous warehouse were not enough to cover the needs of the business and it could not be enlarged. They then decided to buy an 8 hectare plot of land in the Entrevies industrial area. Katoen Natie has built a 13,000 square metre plant with sixty silos to stock polymers in bulk. The new terminal has been operational for the past 6 months, with an initial staff of 15 workers. “In about 3 or 4 years, we hope to have 40 workers”, announced Katoen Natie Ibérica’s CFO, Geert van Kerckhove. The company’s CFO wanted to emphasise that despite the current economic crisis, the Belgian enterprise has decided to keep investing in Tarragona because “it is a very important petro-chemical cluster and an entry gate for imports”. However, Van Kerckhove also stated that the local industry will have to be more competitive and produce high value products. “Less volume and more value, through research”, he said.