Mazda to transport more cars and tyres through Zeebrugge next year

Mazda will transport cars from Japan to the UK via Zeebrugge from April 2009, the ICO will expand its concession at the Bastogne quay, and Bridgestone is expanding its logistics centre in the Zeebrugge innter port.
From April 2009, Mazda cars will be transported from Japan to Zeebrugge, where they will undergo pre-delivery inspection prior to being shipped on to the UK and Ireland.
The new traffic will mean an additional 126,000 units a year.
From next month, Maruti-Suzuki cars will also be imported into Zeebrugge. In this respect, the International Car Operators (NYK subsidiary) will expand its concession at the Bastogne quay from 56 to 76 hectares.
Last year ICO handled 1.3 million new cars of the total 2.21 million units in Zeebrugge.
Japanese tyre manufacturer Bridgestone has announced that it will expand its logistics centre in the Zeebrugge inner port.
The warehousing complex - currently 87,500 m2, will be expanded in two stages.
The first expansion of 18,000 m2 will be built within a year. In a second stage, the centre will be expanded by 20,000 m2.
The port of Zeebrugge is the main distribution centre for Bridgestone in Europe, and the Bridgestone European Logistic Centre serves the Benelux, Germany, France, UK, Ireland and Scandinavia markets.