References - Rhenus | Best-Hall Oy

Rhenus

A building 50 metres wide with no foundation

Best-Hall’s steel-framed fabric-covered buildings provide savings in installation time and costs.

Some 1.4 million tonnes of goods flow through Krems, which is one of the largest ports on the Danube. The need for covered storage is increasing rapidly, which is why the port operator Rhenus decided to purchase a fabric building from Best-Hall for the second time now. The new structure is 50 metres wide, boasts 4,200 square metres and can be installed in an asphalted area without much foundation work.

The Port of Krems on the Danube operates in the interface of maritime, railway and road transport. Managing Director Gerhard Gussmag explains: “Rhenus is a port operator that transfers our clients’ goods between ships, trains and lorries, and also provides storage services. As such, the need for storage space is massive.” In recent years, this need has increased even further: “In other words, we need more covered capacity in the form of warehouses.” In 2019, Best-Hall delivered a fabric building of 1,750 square metres in which an indoor crane was installed. “Now in 2021, we have invested in another structure with 4,200 square metres of floor area.” The 50-metre span is the maximum that can be anchored directly into the asphalt without a foundation. The building is 83 metres long and its interior height is 12 metres. “This is a suitable height for stacking containers on top of each other. The interior is also extremely well lit, so our workers are unlikely to need additional lighting for storing and picking up goods,” Gussmagg says.

Long service life

Best-Hall is a Finnish company specialising in steel-framed fabric-covered buildings. “Over the past 45 years, we have installed more than 5,000 buildings – some in areas with extremely heavy snowfall and/or winds,” says Marcus Green, Managing Director of Best-Hall Austria. “This structure is anchored directly into the asphalt without a foundation. We can provide buildings up to 100 metres wide, but they obviously require a foundation.” The steel frame consists of high-quality S420 steel pipe profiles. “This enables us to keep the structures relatively thin. The biggest benefit of our buildings is that we powder-coat our steel frames.” Traditional steel structures are usually hot galvanised, and the rough surfaces can damage the cover fabric as the frame moves. “The steel frame can break the surface of the cover fabric when rubbing against it. Thanks to the powder coating, the surface of the frame is smooth, which ensures that the fabric lasts much longer. Best-Hall’s estimate is that the cover will last about 35 years, on average,” Green says.

Affordable and flexible

“Our experiences with the first Best-Hall building set up in 2019 were excellent in terms of installation costs and speed,” Gussmagg says. “The structure is safe and durable, and the installation was quick. As a provider of logistics services, this is very important to us to be able to obtain the requisite capacity on short notice.” A hall of this type is a cost-efficient solution for Rhenus’ needs. “We store bulk and breakbulk cargo, which is why we need a standard storage building for goods traffic.” The highly varying products require replaceable and modifiable storage units. “We need to be extremely flexible, because our clients’ requirements change all the time. This structure is ideal for us.”

Text & photos Robert Kittel