Sentury Tire adding Memphis D/C

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Feb. 12, 2015) — Sentury Tire Americas is opening a distribution center in Memphis to handle “burgeoning customer demand” for Sentury's Landsail and Delinte brands from dealers in Northeast and Central states.  

The 70,000-sq.-ft. warehouse, located close to the I-40/I-240 interchange on the east side of Memphis, is capable of stocking more than 50,000 tires expedite fill-in orders for Sentury Tire's distributor customers, Miami-based Sentury Tire said.

“As we grow, we need additional warehouse space across the country to service our distributor program buyers,” said Maxwell Wee, director of sales for Sentury Tire Americas, the Miami-based subsidiary of China's Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd.

“Our direct ship program is capable of servicing the majority of our customer's needs, but — with growing demand — there are some instances where our distributors need to access additional tires.”

This move complements an expansion of warehousing under way in Miami, Sentury said.

More than 90 percent of its tires are shipped directly to its distributors from Sentury's plants in China, Sentury said. However, to meet growing demand even during peak periods, the company uses its fill-in warehouses to make sure distributors always have the tires they need.

Sentury did not comment at this time on how the U.S.'s decision to impose countervailing and antidumping duties on imports of Chinese car and light truck tires is affecting its business. But earlier — just after the U.S. Commerce Department announced the imposition of countervailing duties — Sentury's director of sales, Maxwell Wee, said the decision “hasn't dampened Sentury's…commitment to its U.S. distributors and dealers” and that it is “committed to delivering high quality tires at an affordable price….”

Qingdao Sentury was levied duties totaling 39.75 percent, according to Commerce Department data.