Site part of multiyear expansion in Europe, Africa and the Middle East

Caterpillar Logistics Services is expanding its reach in the Middle East with a new 450,000-square-foot parts distribution center in Dubai, part of what the company says is a larger global expansion effort.

The site expected to open in 2012 will be the third Cat Logistics is adding to its network in five years and will bring faster, direct distribution of aftermarket parts to Africa and the Middle East.

The Dubai Distribution Center will join a facility in Shanghai added in 2006 and one opened in Moscow in 2007. The Morton, Ill.-based subsidiary of industrial equipment manufacturing giant Caterpillar also opened a distribution facility in Waco, Texas, in 2009.

Cat Logistics also plans to open a parts distribution center in Clayton, Ohio, in 2011 to consolidate other parts distribution operations in the Midwest United States.

Industrial construction and the shipping that supports it has been growing at a rapid pace in the Middle East and the Dubai site will help Cat Logistics get parts to the region without using expensive long-haul air freight.

It also supports a “multiyear expansion and enhancement of the European, Africa and Middle East Cat Parts distribution network.” That network has grown more global in recent years and the new Dubai site will be tied into facilities in Moscow, Johannesburg and Grimbergen, Belgium.

Source: JOC