Storage, bonded warehousing and distribution of lithium products under one roof
Battery volume arrives in Europe the same way everything else does, in deep sea containers from Asia. What happens in the first few hours after discharge decides most of your cost. Move the boxes across the country to find a compliant warehouse and you pay for the drayage, the demurrage and the risk. We are building the compliant warehouse next to the terminal instead.
- Bonded under our own customs warehouse authorisation, so duty and VAT stay suspended until you sell and you do not need a licence of your own
- Purpose built for lithium, with in-rack sprinklers and a constant 18 degrees all year
- 13,000 pallet positions in automated racking, 20 metres of usable height, Euro pallet and block pallet
From the quay to your customer
1. Discharge and drayage
4. Bonded put-away
2. Devanning and check
5. Monitoring
3. Classification
6. Release and distribution
Why Middlegate for batteries
The building
Hulkstraat 3 in Zeebrugge, opening December 2026, five kilometres from the deep sea container terminals. Just under 3,000 square metres of floor carrying 13,000 pallet positions, because the roof sits at 25 metres, the usable storage height is 20 and the racking is automated. Most warehouse space in this region stops at ten or twelve metres, so the same volume elsewhere costs you three times the ground area and three times the rent.
The racking takes Euro pallets and block pallets, and the building holds a constant 18 degrees, which is where lithium cells want to sit. The battery allocation is flexible: take a compartment of it or take the building. Behind it sits the rest of the network, 42,000 m2 across Zeebrugge, Liege and Hull, with our own fleet for the distribution leg.
What we accept
We hold new product. Factory sealed, on its way to a customer, not on its way to a recycler.
- UN 3480, lithium ion cells and batteries shipped on their own
- UN 3481, lithium ion batteries packed with or contained in equipment
- New BESS units and containerised energy storage systems
- Spare and service stock moving to a European distribution network
Used batteries, end of life volume, damaged units and recalled consignments belong in a waste permitted facility, and we are not one. Keeping that stream out is what lets us run a single clean risk profile across the building, which is what your insurer and ours both want to see. Send us the UN number, the classification and the documentation before the vessel sails and you will have a firm answer on handling before the container lands.
Value added work on site
The handling that keeps a battery programme moving.
- Repacking and repalletising, including into and out of bonded stock
- Relabeling and remarking
- Sorting and inspection on intake or on return
- Cross-dock for consignments that do not need to be stored
- Pick and pack for spare cells, modules and service parts
Safety and compliance
There is no Belgian equivalent of the Dutch PGS 37-2, and no battery storage certificate to hang on the wall. In Belgium what decides whether a building may hold lithium is the environmental permit for the site, the fire brigade zone that would have to attend it, the fire protection engineering, and the insurer who underwrites it. We are working through all four now with specialist advisers.
The design. In-rack sprinklers, a constant 18 degrees, gas detection, smoke detection and compartmentation across the building, with camera surveillance and controlled access on who gets near the racking. A quarantine area for units that need isolating and an immersion zone for damaged cells. Specified into the build rather than added to it, which is the part you cannot retrofit into an existing hall at any sensible cost.
What we will not do. We will not take stock this building is not designed and cleared to hold, and we will not quote on a consignment before we know its UN classification. If you have been told elsewhere that it will probably be fine, that is the answer you should worry about.
The company behind it. Family owned and asset based since 1989. 120 tractors, 220 trailers, 42,000 m2 of warehousing in Zeebrugge, Liege and Hull, customs clearance in house and dangerous goods safety advisers on the payroll.
Who this is for
- Importers bringing cells, modules or packs from Asia by deep sea container and holding European stock before they sell
- Manufacturers and OEMs who need a bonded European position without building their own compliant warehouse
- BESS integrators staging containerised units between shipment and installation
- Distributors holding European spare and service stock close to the arrival port
Reserve your space before December 2026
Bonded under our own authorisation
Five kilometres from the quay
A constant 18 degrees
Your Warehousing RFQ
Ready to put your warehousing on autopilot without losing control?
More Middlegate Services
3PL Warehouse Belgium
Bonded Warehouse Belgium
Omnichannel Fulfilment
Customs Clearance
Freight Forwarding
