ZFV To Invest €75M In Warehouses For PSA

26 October 2015 – Expansión

The Free Trade Zone Consortium (in Vigo, also known as the ZFV or ‘Zona Franca de Vigo’) is throwing itself behind the PSA-Citroën factory, which is gearing up for the production of a new generation of vans, as part of the industrial project known as K9. The Free Trade Zone will invest €75 million between 2014 and 2017 in the Balaídos industrial estate, where the factory is based.

Most of the investment will go into (the construction of) more warehouses and land (€60 million) to enable PSA to get closer to its suppliers and to encourage those suppliers to substitute their stock systems with “tight flow” supply systems. The Director of the factory, Yann Martin, has insisted that the aim is to reduce production costs at the centre itself and between the auxiliary industry and logistics.

The first supplier to move into the industrial estate was the logistics company Azkar. In July, another warehouse measuring 42,000 m2 will become operational, in which the Free Trade Zone will invest €15.7 million. It will employ 500 people during the construction phase.

The forecast investment for 2016 and 2017 will amount to €11 million and will endow the Balaídos industrial estate with services such as a test track, another warehouse and the renovation of existing warehouses.

The Consortium will also construct an electricity sub-station, which will allow the industrial estate to save around €1 million per year on its electricity bill.

Galician suppliers have already been awarded contracts for the new vans amounting to €370 million and this figure is expected to increase to €600 million. PSA Peugeot-Citroën employs 6,000 people in Vigo.

Original story: Expansión (by A. Chas)

Translation: Carmel Drake