Transuniverse Forwarding has made a partner switch in Spain. Since the beginning of May we work together with Salvat Logistica, headquartered near Barcelona. This company manages considerable export flows to Belgium and has a finely-meshed national network. This allows us to significantly increase the frequency of departures and decrease the lead times. Spain is one of the most important destinations for Transuniverse. With this swap, we can further expand our strong market position.
The partner switch in Spain was prompted by several factors, the most important of which was the desire to increase departure frequency to that country. “We had been working for years with a strong partner in Barcelona serving the larger economic centres in Spain and with three other smaller partners for the more remote regions. While in recent years our exports to Spain were growing steadily, the exports to Belgium generated by these partners were not growing along. That growing imbalance made it increasingly difficult to organise enough ’round trips’ to maintain the frequency of departures from Belgium,” says Jo Vormezeele, Operations Director at Transuniverse.
“The fact that we served the whole of Spain with four different partners also had an impact on lead times. In groupage, shorter delivery times play an increasingly important role,” says Alexander Bekaert, Traffic Operations Manager. “So we came to the realisation that we could serve Spain more efficiently with one partner covering the whole territory and generating sufficient export volumes to Belgium.”
Salvat Logistica
Salvat Logistica is a major player in the Spanish market, with its own national and international transport services (groupage and full loads), logistics solutions and – through its subsidiary CBL Logistica – a finely meshed distribution network that covers the whole of Spain. The leading company, founded more than 50 years ago by José Salvat Soler, is still in family hands.
“In the countries where we have large volumes and deploy shuttle services, Salvat relies on local agents. After a change of direction at our former partner in Belgium, we wanted to set up a new partnership. Transuniverse and Salvat Logistica found each other and it soon became clear that a partnership would strengthen both companies in groupage traffic between Spain and Belgium and vice versa. What certainly also played a role is that we are both family owned companies. We did not wish to partner with a multinational group,” says Miguel Monterde, Traffic Manager at Salvat Logistica.
Daily frequency
“Salvat Logistica and Transuniverse complement each other well as both manage significant export volumes to Belgium and Spain respectively. This balance allows for a daily shuttle service between Ghent and Barcelona, whereas previously we could only offer two departures per week. Moreover, for its shuttles between both hubs, Salvat works with three drivers who relay each other, so that the trucks reach their destination after only 20 hours of driving. This allows us – also thanks to the finely meshed national distribution network in Spain – to significantly improve lead times,” says Jo Vormezeele.
“In addition, the greater balance in export volumes also makes it possible to organise almost daily shuttles between Valencia and Madrid on the one hand and Ghent on the other. This cooperation is thus a tool for both companies to further grow traffics,” adds Miguel Monterde.
Improved Track & Trace
“An additional advantage is that Salvat has state-of-the-art IT systems. Since we can rely on one partner for both the international transport and the national distribution, we therefore expect our track & trace services to improve significantly,” concludes Jo Vormezeele.
