MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik Industries AG and Duisburger Hafen AG (duisport) have established the jointly controlled company "DERS Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH" (Duisport-Evonik-Rhein-Sieg-development company, DERS) for the development of Evonik's Lulsdorf location, as per the company's press release.
Thomas Wessel, Chief Human Resources Officer of Evonik Industries AG, and Erich Staake, Chief Executive Officer of Duisburger Hafen AG, signed a joint venture agreement today.
"We look forward to expanding our positive and successful collaboration with duisport. DERS provides incentives for additional companies to set up operations at Evonik’s Lulsdorf site, which creates workplaces and contributes to the development of North Rhine Westphalia as an industry location," says Wessel.
"The special competitive advantage of the North Rhine-Westphalia region lies in the close linkages between industry and logistics. DERS represents an outstanding project of our strategic collaboration with Evonik, which was established last year. With the joint development of the Lulsdorf site, we are bundling our know-how, which enables us to realize considerable value-added potentials in the region," emphasizes Staake.
DERS, in which both partners have an equal stake, will commence operations on 1 January 2016. Its Managing Directors will be Hans Josef Fingerhuth, Logistics Manager of Evonik's locations in Wesseling and Lulsdorf, along with Volker Schmitz, Managing Director of duisport agency GmbH.
The objective of the joint venture is to develop the 50 hectares of open space that is currently available at the Lulsdorf location, and to market these premises with the aim of attracting production and logistics companies. In addition, the existing on-site logistics activities will also be further optimized. In this vein, Evonik and duisport will continue their long-standing and successful partnership. At the Marl chemical park, they are joint shareholders of Umschlag Terminal Marl GmbH & Co. KG. This company operates the terminal for combined transportation at that location.
DERS will continue the strategic collaboration between the two partners that was established last year. The objective of this strategic partnership is the development and implementation of modern logistics concepts and long-term site development.
As MRC informed earlier, Evonik Industries is paving the way for a new technology whose applications include automotive finishes that are more scratch-resistant than ever before. The specialty chemicals company has developed an industrial-scale method for producing silane-modified binders for automotive finishes. The advantage of these silane-modified binders: silane groups increase crosslinking density, making it possible to create automotive finishes that are flexible yet harder, leading to improved scratch resistance. The basic concept behind the new technology was already known: modifying classic binders with silanes noticeably improves the binder properties. This also applies to the polyurethane binders typically used for automotive finishes.
Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2013 more than 33,500 employees generated sales of around EUR12.9 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of about EUR2.0 billion.
MRC