Speciality carbon black manufacturer Orion Engineered Carbons (Houston, Texas / USA; www.orioncarbons.com) is preparing to build a new logistics centre in Cologne / Germany, its biggest production site. The new 8,850 m² central warehouse will be leased from Grieshaber Logistik (Weingarten / Germany; www.grieshaberlog.com). With eight lorry docks, it will be able to handle some 12,400 pallets. Construction is due to begin in the next few weeks, with commissioning scheduled for December 2020. Consolidation at one location is designed to equalise plant traffic and improve internal logistics, the company said.

Orion’s portfolio covers a broad range of carbon blacks including high-performance speciality gas blacks, acetylene blacks, furnace blacks, lamp blacks and thermal blacks. With 160,000 t/y and more than 100 differentiated grades of carbon black produced at the Cologne facility each year, the new distribution centre will enable the US-headquartered company to grow business in Europe said Sandra Niewiem, senior VP Specialty Carbon Black and EMEA Region.

The company became established in Germany under the Orion name in 2011 with the sale of the former Degussa’s (now Evonik) carbon black business to private equity investors Rhone Group and Triton Capital. Last year, Orion announced a capacity expansion for Cologne and acquired French acetylene carbon black manufacturer Société du Noir d’Acétylène de l’Aubette (SN2A) from LyondellBasell and its French affiliate.