A recent opening ceremony was held, attended by President Mrs. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and FEMSA General Manager , Carlos Salazar. The land where the storage facility was built covers a surface of 105,000 square meters, located at La Matanza, province of Buenos Aires and belongs to the Central Market of Fruits and Vegetables. Raúl Álvarez, general secretary of the Argentine Federation of Carbonated Beverages and Related Industry Workers (FATAGA), discussed with Sirel about it.

The surface of the storage facility is 22,000 square meters and will start operating on 15 October. It is expected to be fully operational in three shifts by November. This center will cover 25,000 customers, processing 50,000 beverage cases a day.

“This center is very important because of its size, its operational capacity --explains Álvarez- but I have my doubts, which I told the company in due time, because such a huge facility has only one entrance and one exit. Let's see".

FEMSA distributes its products in the metropolitan area, from where it controls 35 percent of the national market. But Buenos Aires, with a high consumption level, has its difficulties. “The strength of FEMSA is the Federal Capital -states the leader-, where traffic is increasingly difficult and there is no regulatory framework for loading and unloading. The company wishes to bring the method used in São Paulo (Brazil) with small vehicles. FEMSA , São Paulo has the highest distribution costs with many small trucks… but there isn't another solution”.

 
In this highly automated distribution center of La Matanza “approximately 300 persons will work. All the distribution, both distribution by third parties and distribution of the company's own fleet which we represent, will be carried out from such center", informed the leader of FATAGA.

 
FEMSA has 600 trucks directly linked to the company.