Winnipeg-based WETT Sales & Distribution Inc. is expanding its CentrePort-based operations with the addition of a new, customs bonded warehouse that will allow the company to deliver its international beverage products quickly and more efficiently to markets in Western Canada and expand to other jurisdictions in North America.
WETT Sales & Distribution worked with CentrePort Canada Inc. and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries (MBLL) on its successful bid to create 15,000 square feet of customs bonded warehouse space. The application was granted through CentrePort’s single-window program for accessing Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) benefits such as customs bonded status.
We started working with CentrePort and MBLL on our bonded status because we wanted to ensure the timely delivery of product that is fresh,” said Bill Gould, President of WETT Sales & Distribution. WETT markets domestic and international brands of beer, wine and spirits for sales and distribution in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
This will create a faster, more efficient supply of global beer brands and will allow us to react to consumer demand.
Congratulations to WETT on their expansion and the creation of a new customs-bonded space,” said Diane Gray, President and CEO of CentrePort Canada Inc. “We are thrilled that CentrePort’s one-stop shop for FTZ benefits was able to assist Bill and his team take this next step, which will help WETT grow its operation and access new market opportunities.
The new customs bonded warehouse is more than 15,000 square feet within the company’s current 90,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility.
It will create up to five new jobs – increasing the firm’s total workforce by about 25 per cent. The area will be used for the import of international beer brands, including kegs, that will then be shipped to other provinces. The company is also planning to expand its reach into the United States.
WETT Sales & Distribution represents some of the world’s top brands in beer, wine, and spirits in the Manitoba and Saskatchewan marketplace, including such brands as Moosehead, Samuel Adams, Twisted Tea, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg 1664, Tennent’s, Hop City’s Barking Squirrel, Mill St., Cracked Canoe, Magners and Somersby.
The company has worked with MBLL for 23 years and Gould said the Crown Corporation has been a great partner in helping improve access to market for its domestic and imported brands. WETT acts on behalf of MBLL in the importation of beer brands into Manitoba.
CentrePort Canada is Manitoba’s 20,000-acre inland port and the first logistics hub in the country to offer investors single-window access to FTZ benefits. Located in the heart of North America, CentrePort connects to major national and international trade gateways and corridors, and is the only inland port in Canada with direct access to tri-modal transportation – truck, rail and air cargo.
For more information call CentrePort Canada at 204-784-1300
WETT Sales and Distribution at 204-832-8893
Cam Moskal
