North East & Yorkshire

Vantec Europe makes its biggest investment yet in the UK

Warehouse and logistics company Vantec Europe, VEU, have invested £23.5 million in a new 38,750 sq metre warehouse at Turbine Business Park, Sunderland.

Since 1990 the company has been providing Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK with logistics and warehousing services – this warehouse in the North East is the latest in the progression of that relationship.

The warehouse at Turbine Business Park is located roughly 1 mile away from Nissan’s Sunderland base and it will handle several million of Nissan’s plastic and metal car parts each year. These parts will be delivered from across the UK and European supplier base.

Design began on the warehouse in February 2012 and work got under way on site the following month. Completed on 21st December 2012, construction ran smoothly aside from a few issues caused by the torrential weather conditions that have hit the North East over the past few months.

When asked about the build, Martin Kendall, managing director of VEU said:

“This is the largest project Vantec Europe has ever undertaken. Vantec has a long history of working with Nissan in Japan and here in the UK. We have been carrying out critical logistics services for Nissan Sunderland plant since 1990.

“The investment in the new warehouse next to the car plant will support our existing warehouse in Sunderland, and will confirm our position as the largest supplier of critical logistics to Nissan Sunderland plant.”

Kevin Fitzpatrick, Nissan’s vice president for manufacturing in the UK, said:

“Last year Nissan Sunderland Plant set a new all-time record for car manufacturing in the UK and we are looking forward to manufacturing a new generation of Nissan models for the European market.

“Synchronizing the supply of parts into the production line with our customer orders is fundamental to the Nissan Production Way and this added capacity at Vantec will support further growth at the plant.”

In 2007, VEU became a wholly owned subsidiary of Vantec Corporation and following a majority buy-out by Hitachi Transport System group in 2012, VEU became part of one of the largest global Third Party Logistics providers.

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