Danone Waters is to open a distribution centre at the northwest German Port of Duisburg to handle its Volvic and Evian brands.

Danone is working with logistics provider Reiner Bohnen Internationale Spedition to build a 30,000m² warehouse and office complex at the inland port, set to be complete by mid-2010.

Bottled water will be transported by train to the warehouse, from where they will be distributed to  Danone Waters' customers in Germany.

Danone Waters Deutschland's supply chain manager, Carsten Stelter, said that following the opening of a distribution facility in Hockenheim in 2006, the warehouse in Duisburg "is the next step in accommodating increasingly strict requirements on logistics systems and environmental compatibility".

The Port of Duisburg authority estimates that annual traffic generated by  shipments of Volvic and Evian could represent between 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes.